


Skating on Thin Ice

by tylashke



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Fluff, Ice Skating, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Violence, a few uses of Homophobic Language, ice hockey, very brief mentions of Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-15 09:42:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3442454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tylashke/pseuds/tylashke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichigo Kurosaki watches a familiar figure perform an amazing skating routine. In his attempt to break through the barriers surrounding the white-haired boy of his dreams, what secrets will he unearth and how will they overcome them together? IchiHitsu AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Written for bleach_bigbang. Monster fic of almost 38K words... XD It's my first time writing something this long and my beta was busy, so I only proof-read it myself, so apologies for any mistakes and what I think is awkward plot in some places. Also, I'm really not sure how it turned out and I tried my best to keep the characters IC despite the AU setting...

Distinctive white headphones sitting above his orange hair, yet another familiar rock tune blaring in his ears, Ichigo headed up the stairs to the rink’s entrance and tapped his access card. Following the familiar _‘beep’_ , he pushed on the handle then pulled, the cool blast of wind that gushed out a stark contrast to the summer heat. Entering, he allowed his eyes to adjust to the darker surroundings before walking through the corridor into the seating area, heading for his usual corner in the stands.

It was his usual routine during the summer. With his dad working from home – the clinic was just in front of their house, there was almost no opportunity for him to read in peace and quiet. While he did not mind helping out in the clinic occasionally for the experience, he still needed the relevant content knowledge and Ishida’s snide reminders had not helped. It had not taken him long to discover that the rink was an ideal place to curl up and read before his twice optional weekly practices during the off-season. Though some people still trained during the summer, this was after all the Kuchiki private rink and it was more often than not, empty.

Today was different though. Before the next song came up on his iPod, the faint rhythm of an exotic melody reached his ears as he walked into the stands. Drawn by the tune, he pushed down his headphones; the next thing that caught his eye was the whirl of black and white on the ice. Mesmerised, he watched as the figure jumped, slid and spun on the ice, each element in time to the beat of the piece.

Rukia had insisted he learn about the various elements involved in figure skating, especially since he had volunteered, or more like had been bullied into writing the ice skating articles for “Seireitei Communication“, the school magazine. After Shuuhei had taken over as chief editor, he had recruited some of the team members, Ichigo included, as correspondents for the magazine.

He had only been assigned the swimming, diving and skiing events initially. Rukia had however pressured him into covering the collegiate and other related figure skating events through a mixture of persuasion and threats. Since the collegiate figure skating championship was at the beginning of the school term, he had missed the one in his freshman year. Rukia had more than made up for that by making him watch enough videos on figure skating on Youtube in order to familiarise himself with the competition.

This however, only meant that he had a rather good idea of how difficult the routine he was seeing was. There was also something else in the routine that had caught his attention – if only for a moment, he had felt unbridled passion, and it made him more interested to know the skater’s identity. _‘He looks familiar though. Where have I seen him before?’_

“Let’s go back to the free skate.” The voice that rang out brought him out from his reverie, so immersed in the performance had he been that he had not noticed the music stop. As the skater turned away from the control room, which was directly opposite where Ichigo was standing, his white mane gleamed under the rays of the warm afternoon sun and the orange haired sophomore immediately recognised him.

Brown eyes locked onto turquoise ones as time seemed to stop momentarily, before the skater turned again, nodding in the direction of the control room. Heading to his usual corner as a different tune rang out from the loudspeakers, Ichigo found himself staring blatantly at the white haired skater, his gaze refusing to pull away from the figure on ice.

_‘Where in the world did Toushirou learn to skate like that?’_ They had taken the same compulsory module the previous semester, one on entrepreneurship that was solely graded on group assignments. Thankfully, they had been allowed to choose their own groups and while he had grouped up with his senior high friends, two of his teammates – one with boyfriend in tow, had ended up with Toushirou and Rangiku. Considering their regular practice schedule and how often he hung out with his teammates, it was no surprise that he was acquainted with the two juniors.

Toushirou had already caught his eye back then, despite how little Ichigo knew about him. Knowing that he was a remarkable figure skater only added that fascination. Renji had egged him on then, after discovering his interest in the white haired junior.

“I have Byakuya already. It’s time for you to get someone too,” only to have been answered by a growl, “Stop rubbing it in, you moron.” He had seriously considered it though, despite his doubts on approaching someone he knew so little about; Toushirou was quiet and intensely personal. Things had not worked out though, with the junior’s constant disappearances.

Another more familiar voice rang out through the quiet rink, pulling him back to the present. Reluctantly, Ichigo replaced his headphones, only noticing then that the music had been playing all the while. Pulling out the textbook he had borrowed from the library earlier, he dragged his gaze from the figure on the ice, determined to get some reading done. Nevertheless, every time he looked up, it would be at the lone, white haired skater.

~~~

Finally getting into the mood for reading, Ichigo had been devouring pages on the human musculoskeletal system when he felt his headphones being tugged off. Turning, he was greeted by a grinning redhead. “Renji, return them.”

“Heya strawberry, it’s time for practice. What’s Hitsugaya-senpai doing on the ice anyway?” Stretching slightly to grab his headphones, Ichigo turned to look at the white haired figure, who was now sitting along the first row, tugging off his skates.

“Dumbass, he was skating. What else did you think he could be doing?” “Moron, of course I know he was skating. What was he skating?” Before he could even decide whether to actually tell Renji about what he saw, Ichigo heard Shuuhei’s even tones. “Coach Ise’s here. Let’s go get changed.”

Nodding to the rest of his team of six, then the members of the reserve team in the locker room, he changed quickly, then headed onto the ice with his stick in one hand and puck in the other. Gathering around their assistant coach, he listened intently as her sharp voice rang out. “We’ll warm up with a few rounds of passing. Forwards, we’re working on your shooting today; defenders and goalkeepers, your passing.”

Amidst some groans, she continued, propping her spectacles up with a finger. “Practice match in an hour. Coach Kyouraku’s coming down with Kuchiki-sama to watch.” Allowing a moment for her words to sink in, she then blew her whistle, signalling for practice to start.

The moment she was done, the chattering started. Tossing the puck on the ice, Ichigo nodded to Renji, before flicking his stick, sending it speeding towards the redhead. As they sped around the ice, the familiar _‘swish’ and ‘thump’_ echoing round the rink, Ichigo caught sight of Toushirou out of the corner of his eye, sitting between Coach Ukitake and an unfamiliar woman.

“Ichigo.” Turning a little too late, he saw the puck whizz past him. Before he could skate out to get it, he heard Renji call out, “I’ve got it. Here, Ichi.” Seeing Renji’s knowing smirk beneath his helmet, he narrowed his eyes and shot it back squarely in his direction.

A few moments later, the whistle blew again, signalling the changeover for their position based practice. It was not their turn to haul out the goalposts and as the reserve team headed back into the store room, the orange haired goalkeeper skated over to Renji and punched him squarely in the arm. “Asshole.”

“Ichi’s got a…” “Shut the hell up, Renji, unless you want me to tell Byakuya you know what.” Ichigo hissed under his breath, the ‘don’t play around with this’ expression more than evident in his gaze. He could not explain why he felt so uptight around Toushirou, even resorting to threats to ensure that the white haired junior did not know that he was the least bit interested in him.

_‘It’s not cowardice.’_

He knew it sounded like a lie, but he did not want to think about the matter any further. “Sorry Ren, I’ll make it up to you later.” Without another word, he skated off, headed for Coach Ukitake, _‘and Toushirou’_ , the latter a subconscious prompt from his mind.

Stopping in front of the two white haired skaters and the unfamiliar female, heads bent in discussion, Ichigo waited to be noticed. He did not have to wait long though, Ukitake happened to look up a moment later and smiled. “Kurosaki-kun, it’s time for practice already?”

Nodding as Toushirou looked up at him, Ichigo struggled to find his voice. “Erm… Yep. I’m sorry to bother you, Ukitake-san.” “Oh, not a problem.”

Turning then to the unfamiliar short haired lady, Ukitake bowed and continued, “I apologise, Soi Fon. I’ll be back later. Please do stay, since Kuchiki-san will be coming later. Oh, and Rukia will be coming in a bit, so you can run through her routine with her as well.”

_‘Routine? Is she another figure skater coach?’_ “Kurosaki-kun, let’s go.” Leaving aside his thoughts for the moment, they made their way to the centre of the rink where the rest of the defenders and the other goalkeeper were.

Although Coach Kyouraku was the head coach, the team was supervised mainly by Coach Ise, who organised their practices and occasionally worked on their strategies. Coach Ukitake was actually a figure skating coach, but he was also Coach Kyouraku’s good friend and helped out occasionally as their skating and passing instructor. Ichigo also knew that he was Rukia’s coach and did not mind helping out since he was after all based in the area.

As Ukitake clapped his hands, Ichigo glanced at Chad and Kira and nodded as they headed out towards the far corner of the rink. Together with Shuuhei, Renji and Ikkaku, they made up the first team of the Shinou Shinigami, one of the most highly ranked collegiate ice hockey teams in the country, and the conference and NCAA defending champions.

The teamwork between the defensive backbone of every team was as important as the offense and Ichigo felt himself slowly warm up to the familiar passes and hand signals used by his teammates before Ukitake clapped his hands again and called for the next rotation.

It was very common for substitutions during the game, being fast paced and rough. That made it necessary for him to get used to the other members of the team – familiarity was an essential part of teamwork. Nodding to Iemura who swapped with Kira, they continued, until Ukitake clapped again and Chad swapped out for Enkougawa.

Coach Ise’s shrill whistle sounded out again, capturing the attention of all the players. “Match in five.” Taking off his helmet, Ichigo headed for the water cooler, eager for a drink of water, like most of his teammates.

Pondering what he could do next, he did not realise that Renji had come over until he felt an arm on his shoulders. “Sorry, Ren. I know I promised not to bring it up ever.”

Sounding more sensible than he usually did, Renji countered, “I’m letting you off this time, but you are going to tell me exactly why the hell you did that later. For now though, we have a game to play. We’re going to win this.”

“Yep, we are.” Grinning back at the redhead, they made their way back onto the ice after rehydrating themselves. Heading to a corner with the rest of their team, they briefly discussed strategies before the whistle blew once more.

“Abarai, your team takes that side, Kotsubaki, this side. We’ll only be playing for one period and I expect a clean game.” Grudgingly, the teams trooped off – one period was short. Someone had noted their coach and team sponsor’s presence though and that made it unwise to bargain any further. When everything was ready, puck on the ice between the two team leaders as they faced-off, the whistle rang out again and the game began.

A quick glance before the whistle had told Ichigo that Toushirou was staying for some reason. Turning to face the front and catching Renji’s cocky grin before their Captain turned to focus on the puck in front of him, Ichigo pushed all stray thoughts from his mind as the whistle sounded.

Renji led the attack after winning the puck, using an all-out offensive strategy that aimed to breach the opponent’s defences as quickly as possible, leading to a forecheck with Shuuhei remaining behind as the centre. As the other team pulled back to their defensive line, Ichigo kept a close watch out for any interceptions from their opponents.

Seeing a pass from Renji to Ikkaku getting deflected by Sentarou towards Ashido, Ichigo looked up and noted Shuuhei’s signal as he prepared for the counterattack. Controlling the puck with his stick skilfully, Ashido skated pass Shuuhei, only to be checked by Chad.

The puck sped from the Latino defender to Kira, then back to Shuuhei, who in turn sped past the incoming defenders and shot the puck past the defensive line. Less than a metre away, Renji caught the puck and made further headway into the defensive region, before being checked by both the defenders. As his pass to Ikkaku was intercepted yet again, the puck headed back towards Ichigo.

It was a close match between the two teams. They were more than familiar with each other’s styles and any new strategy variations were quickly picked up by the opposing side. Neither side had scored yet though Renji had managed two shots on goal and Ikkaku one so far, halfway into the period. The goal that Ichigo was guarding had not even come close to being attacked yet, thanks to the combined efforts of Kira and Chad.

Not a minute later, the first attempt came. In a first successful counterattack by their opponents, Sentarou had brought the puck to their defensive line, Ryuusei and Ashido following closely behind him. Just slightly further back, Shuuhei had pulled back just a little too late, leaving only the two defenders to deal with the three incoming attackers.

As the puck passed between the three forwards, with Shuuhei now in the mix, there proved no advantage for either side. Keeping a close watch over the puck, Ichigo was immediately aware when Ashido had a clear shot. As the puck whizzed across the ice towards, the orange-haired goalkeeper immediately deflected it to the unguarded Shuuhei, who immediately sped off with it.

A quick pass to Renji and some deft passing between him and Ikkaku left them metres away from the goal. As Shuuhei moved in to block one defender, and Ikkaku the other, the redhead aimed and with a flick, sank the puck into the net. Coach Ise’s whistle rang out to indicate the goal before the puck made its way back to the centre for the next face-off.

More passes followed and both sides picked up their game as shouts rang out on the ice. Sounds of “Back!” resounded as Ichigo’s side found itself on the defensive once again, after a successful check. The decoy by Ryuusei did not work on Chad though and in another successful check, the taller defender intercepted the puck from the smaller forward, sending it speeding towards Ikkaku, who led yet another counterattack on the opposite goal.

As Renji and Ikkaku passed the defensive line, their challenge was met squarely by the defenders. Before they could actually get close enough to score, the whistle shrilled twice, indicating that the period and their practice were over. Cries of “Good game!” rang out between the players as they made their way to the bench.

A rare smile crossed their assistant coach’s usually cool features as she noted calmly. “Considering it’s still the pre-season, that was a good match. I expect all of you to work equally hard into the season and show the other teams that the defending champions are not be trifled with. You’re dismissed.”

Taking off his helmet, Ichigo noticed Rukia sitting next to Toushirou with Coach Ukitake and the lady, and headed over to see what was up. “Hey, Rukia. What’s up?”

Smiling, the black haired sophomore replied, “Oh, nii-sama wants to see our routines today.”

“I’ll head off to change and shower then. Give me a few minutes. I need some stuff to work with before the championships.”

“I’m expecting something better as good as your other articles. Saying that it’s your first article on figure skating is not an excuse. Don’t keep nii-sama waiting,” a hint of a threat in her voice as she answered.

Waving, Ichigo headed off to the locker room immediately, getting out of his uniform quickly before jumping into the showers. Drying up and pulling on his shirt and jeans after the quick shower, he hollered, “I’ll catch you guys outside,” before heading back into the stands.

Hearing the piece used for the white haired junior playing on the sound system, Ichigo slipped into the seat next to Rukia and whispered, “So, who’s the lady? How long have you known about Toushirou skating anyway?”

“For one, she’s not the lady; she’s Coach Soi Fon, our routine choreographer and part time coach. As for Hitsugaya-senpai,” Rukia smirked before continuing, “I’ve been persuading him to join us since last semester at nii-sama’s insistence. He finally agreed before the deadline for the submission of this season’s plans and he’s been training ever since.”

Glancing at the figure on ice clad in black and white, Ichigo attempted to process the information slowly in his mind. _‘When the hell did she know he was a skater?’_ Before he even got past the part on Rukia persuading the skater to join the small skating club under Byakuya that was affiliated with the prestigious Skating Club of Boston, the black haired skater had continued. “You should go google him for more information. You’d be surprised. Anyway, you do need a copy of our routines right? I’m off.”

Numbly taking the sheaf of papers from Rukia, Ichigo sat, overwhelmed at the information, as the exotic piece he had heard earlier headed to its climax. Rukia had headed out onto the ice to warm up before her routine and soon after, Toushirou returned to the benches, still wearing a determined expression on his face.

Not knowing what exactly to say in the light of Rukia’s words, Ichigo sat silently, taking in Rukia’s short programme, subconsciously noting that it was an improvement over the video of her previous year’s that she had made him watch. It was only when she started her free skate that he managed to actually look at the routines in his hand and evaluate how well she was doing compared to what had been planned.

It was over quickly though and by the time she had got off the ice, Renji and the rest of his team had joined him on the benches. “Ichi, the usual for dinner?” Renji’s voice cut through his thoughts and he nodded. “Rukia, join us for dinner? You too, Hitsugaya-senpai?”

Thankful that Renji was doing the asking, Ichigo was surprised when Toushirou agreed to join them, asking if it was fine that he asked Rangiku along since he was supposed to meet her anyway. Without any objection, the skater called the busty blonde and that was how Ichigo found himself dragged away for dinner with the rest of his teammates.

Dinner was as usual, a noisy affair, with Yumichika, Ikkaku’s boyfriend, joining them as well. As they chatted and caught up with each other over what they had done over the summer vacation, Ichigo felt himself going along with the crowd even though he did not exactly feel up to it.

He was more bothered with his reactions towards the white haired junior and Rukia’s words and found himself sneaking sideway glances at Toushirou occasionally. Pleading tiredness, Ichigo had excused himself from the after-drinks session and headed home instead, hoping to figure out what exactly was bothering him.

Pulling out his laptop, the orange haired teenager opened a tab for Google and typed in ‘Toushirou Hitsugaya’. In several seconds, the results page popped up with several thousand results. Browsing through the page, he was surprised by an article entitled ‘National Junior Skating Champion pulls out of World Junior Championship citing family bereavement’.

Opening the window, brown eyes glanced quickly through the article and what he read only resulted in more questions instead of answering those he had after hearing Rukia’s words. “As quickly as he emerged on the scene, stunning watchers by capturing his first ever Junior Nationals, Toushirou Hitsugaya, coached by Sousuke Aizen, pulled out of the World Junior Championships in a shock move today, citing family bereavement. It has been reported that his adopted sister, Momo Hinamori, passed away in a suicide attempt several days ago…”

Another subsequent article had this to say. “Current National Junior Champion, Toushirou Hitsugaya, has cited personal reasons for a break up with his coach, Sousuke Aizen, and a premature retirement from the skating scene. Another coach, who refused to be named, said that the suicide of his adopted sister, who had been an up-and-coming skater under the same coach, played a large part in his decision.”

Staring blankly at the screen, Ichigo buried his head in his hands. It was as though he had opened Pandora’s Box and was eagerly prying into someone else’s personal life. _‘Then again, I do need to know some of these in order to write. Rukia, why the hell this now?’_

More confused than ever over his emotions, Ichigo turned off his laptop and headed to bed, hoping that a night of restful sleep would offer more clarity of thought the next day. However, bothered as he was, sleep was long in coming for the orange haired teen.


	2. Learning

Two weeks later, Ichigo was nowhere near reaching a conclusion on his feelings towards the white haired junior and worse, he was stuck in a room with him for three days.

He had continued with his research the next morning after his conversation with Rukia and had observed an interesting point. _‘Toushirou never gives interviews. That makes the articles potentially subjective. Then again, how likely is he to tell me his point of view?’_

The only thing he knew was that he was interested in Toushirou. Why exactly he could not explain – it was more than just a combination of wanting to know the real Toushirou behind that cold expression he wore, and the feeling of wanting to protect him, to comfort him given all that he went through. There were other things, including hoping to see the white haired teenager smile some day and his unique looks.

Despite all these, the orange haired sophomore was not sure if he really liked Toushirou enough to dare term it ‘love’. There was something else that weighed on his considerations as well – he did not know if Toushirou liked guys. It was _futile_ to fall in love with a straight guy. Ichigo’s first crush had been on one, and throughout the whole process, he had been the only one to bear the burden of unrequited puppy love.

_He had learnt his lesson after that._

“Kurosaki, it’s time to head to the rink.” Toushirou’s crisp voice jolted him out of his thoughts. “Oh, give me a minute.” Grabbing his brown messenger bag from the floor, Ichigo checked to see if the book he had brought on the nervous system, his iPod and headphones, and his writing pad and stationary were in it, before slinging it over his shoulder and standing.

He grabbed the pair of skates standing at the doorway and headed out into the corridor, the white haired skater following behind him. “Give me my skates,” growled Toushirou as they walked to the lift.

“Byakuya said to carry them for you to and from the rink,” Ichigo responded, meeting the stern gaze with a stubborn one of his own. He watched as the shorter skater crossed his arms as they entered the lift and grinned, knowing what was to come.

As he expected, Toushirou refused to look at him or speak to him as they walked two blocks down to the rink for the practice skate. It had not taken him long to pick up on the habits of the white haired teenager. They had arrived in Michigan the previous night, together with Rukia and had been more than surprised when he was told at the counter he was rooming with the skater.

While he had shared rooms for the occasional out of state event he had to report on, he had never actually roomed with one of the athletes. It thus came as a surprise that a twin room had been booked for Toushirou and him. Neither of them had complained though and they had settled in for the night after managing to come to an understanding.

Entering the rink, Ichigo followed behind Toushirou as he headed to report to the officials, before finally handing the black skates discreetly branded with the logo of Kuchiki Sportswear to the skater at a glare. Stretching, the orange haired student reporter looked around the rink for a suitable place to watch the practice from. Spotting someone waving from the corner of his eye, he turned and saw Rukia, with Rangiku following behind her.

~~~

Toushirou turned towards his minder after nodding in acknowledgement to the officials. “I’m starting in 15 minutes and will be done in an hour. Official practice is at 7 tomorrow and 10 on Sunday. The short programme’s at 2 on Saturday and the free skate’s at 4 on Sunday.”

“Okay, I’ve got that.” He noted the orange haired sophomore’s reply with a nod, then turned back to the rink. Somewhat distracted by his plans for practice, the white haired skater failed to notice the familiar voice that rang out. “Senpai!”

Turning too late to avoid the warm embrace from the strawberry blonde, Toushirou struggled slightly as the voluptuous junior crushed herself against him. “Matsumoto!” At that command, the blonde junior released him before grinning at him.

“Matsumoto, what are you doing here?” He queried, arching his eyebrow slightly.

“Oh senpai, it’s your first competition in three years. Of course I had to come to support you!” Despite her cheerful reply, their eyes met and he caught the unspoken seriousness in her gaze. His gaze darkened slightly for an instant as the events from three years ago passed through his mind, before returning to its normal cool one.

“I have to get ready.” Turning away, he sat down and began taking off his shoes while listening to the conversation behind him.

“Hi Ichigo! Anyway, I’m rooming with Rukia. Kuchiki-san sponsored my trip and I’ll be Rukia’s minder and Coach Ukitake is flying in later tonight. What else was I supposed to tell you?” Matsumoto’s familiar voice was loud enough for any passer-bys to hear.

“Oh, and we’ve decided that you’re going to go shopping with me tomorrow, while Rukia and senpai have their practice.” _“What?”_ That was Kurosaki, his voice lower than the two girls.

Missing the conspiratorial wink between the two girls as he laced up his skates, Toushirou then heard a question directed at him. “Sen-pai, it’s okay if you don’t have Ichigo around for practice tomorrow right?”

Standing, he turned and caught sight of the _‘Please, no’_ look in Kurosaki’s eyes. Ignoring it, the skater replied, “Well, if Kuchiki doesn’t mind not having you, I don’t need Kurosaki around too.”

“I don’t. In fact, I think it’ll be good for Ichigo to spend some time with Rangiku.” A smirking Kuchiki Rukia replied, looking at Kurosaki. Watching as Matsumoto clapped her hands together and replied, “That’s settled then,” Toushirou turned back to the rink and noted that the ice surfacing was almost done.

Once it was done, he headed onto the ice surface, making several rounds on it, getting acquainted with it and warming up. It was familiar as always and after deciding that he was sufficiently warmed up, he began on his routine. As he had done while preparing for his previous competitions, he only practiced the more complicated parts of his programmes, not wanting to reveal the whole programme.

Time flew by as he skated and before he knew it, his hour was up. Slightly hungry after the practice, Toushirou headed off the ice a tad reluctantly. He sat down and began unlacing his skates.

Halfway through, he heard the familiar voices of his companions and grunted in response when Matsumoto sat down next to him and asked how his practice had gone. When he was finally done, the trio had already decided on where they would be having dinner, and he grudgingly handed his skates over to his orange haired minder before following them as they headed for dinner.

~~~

“Rangiku, tell me again, _why_ is it that I need to go shopping with you?”

“Well… I need someone to help me carry my shopping.” The strawberry blonde junior grinned back at Ichigo, who was already holding four separate bags of clothes after coming out from one mall. “There’s still so much more to look at.”

Sighing, Ichigo noted that she was not going to be offering any information about Toushirou without him asking and began to plan how he could ask her about the white haired junior. She was, probably the closest person to him, from what he had seen since knowing Toushirou.

As they walked down the street along a row of shops, he had ordered his thoughts sufficiently and decided that it was appropriate to begin the questioning as Rangiku hemmed and hawed while she browsed the window displays. “Rangiku, mind if I ask you some stuff about Toushirou?”

“Hmm..? What do you want to know?” Rangiku replied in her typical absent-minded manner, seeming more interested in the window displays.

“Well, how long have you known him?”

Holding up a hand, the blonde began muttering to herself as she counted off the years on her fingers. “That’s three years of college, then three years of senior high. Hmm… it’s three years right? When did I see him..? Tenth grade, so three years.” Turning to the orange haired teenager, she replied, “That makes about six years. Senpai and his sister transferred to my school and he was in my tenth grade classes. His sister was, I think, in her senior year when they transferred.”

Catching sight of another interesting clothes display, Rangiku then dragged Ichigo into yet another store. As she bustled around the racks, looking at the dresses, Ichigo wondered, _‘Six years, which means she’s known him even before the suicide and she might know his sister as well.’_

Finding nothing that caught her eye, Rangiku then proceeded out of the store, making her way down the street, with Ichigo following behind her. “Why do you keep calling him senpai anyway?”

“Senpai doesn’t like people calling him by his name. Since he started helping me with homework and assignments in high school, I’ve been calling him senpai, even though he’s actually younger than me.” Rangiku laughed, then looked down at her watch. “It’s time for lunch. Any preferences?”

“Erm… nope. Anything’s fine.”

“Okay then. I think I saw this Italian place in the mall ahead yesterday. My treat.” Rangiku smiled.

Ten minutes later, they were seated in the restaurant. After placing their orders with the waiter, Ichigo took a sip of water before resuming with his questions. “So, did you know for very long that he was returning to skating?”

“Nope. Rukia only told me a few days ago and I immediately decided to come when she asked if I wanted to come along with her. I get to see senpai skate and get to shop in somewhere new into the bargain. After what happened three years ago, it did come as a surprise to hear that he agreed to skate again.” Rangiku replied, expression turning slightly serious.

“You mean he said he wouldn’t skate ever again after that situation three years ago?” Ichigo asked, surprise obvious in his tone.

“I guess it isn’t hard to find out about her suicide huh?” Shrugging her shoulders, Rangiku continued, “Yep, he did. Senpai swore he’d never skate again after Momo died ‘cos of Aizen. It’s good that Rukia managed to convince him to come back; he’s always loved to skate ever since I’ve known him.”

Ichigo nodded before deciding to take the chance to ask more about the white haired skater. “What else does he like besides skating?”

“Thank you,” Rangiku muttered to the waiter who brought their food. “Well, senpai enjoys cold weather and watermelons. He can’t stand the summer, so he used to hang out in air conditioned places back when we were in Cali. He probably enjoys the winter now; I find it a hassle wrapping up though.” Munching on a piece of pizza, the blonde junior thought for a moment, “Oh, he also loves his grandmother’s amanattou. It’s a kind of Japanese sweet made of azuki beans and covered with sugar. It’s not easy to find here though.”

 _‘I wonder if I should ask about his sister. It seems like I’m prying too much…'_ As Ichigo filed the white haired junior’s likes and dislikes away in his mind, he wondered if it would be good to ask more. It seemed to him that Rangiku did not know much about his skating. If he were to ask any further, it’d be more like an invasion of his privacy.

Rangiku however, interrupted his thoughts with a question that caught him off guard. “So Ichigo, what do you like?”

Watching the blonde grin at him, Ichigo flushed slightly and wondered how it came to be his turn to answer questions. “Erm… well, just the normal stuff I guess. I like rock music, ice hockey, ice cream, and hanging out with Renji and the rest of the guys.” Putting another fork of spaghetti into his mouth, he chewed on it and waited to see if Rangiku would continue to ask weird questions.

“So… do you like guys or rather, Hitsugaya-senpai?”

“Shhh!” Blushing furiously this time as he tried to hush the blonde who had been speaking in her usual loud tones, Ichigo scowled at her. “What the hell did you just ask?” Despite whispering this time, the irritation in his tone was unmistakeable.

“I think you heard correctly the first time,” Rangiku replied with a smirk.

 _‘Think, idiot and calm down.’_ “I, er…, like guys,” _‘Wait, what did I just say?!’_ “I don’t know if I actually like Toushirou though.” Voice fading down to an even softer whisper, Ichigo sat in his chair, still blushing but trying to see what Rangiku would make of the whole situation.

“Oh, don’t worry. Rukia’s told me already. I’m just here to see if you actually like him.” Grinning like a Cheshire cat, the blonde replied. “You are really cute when you blush, you know.”

“Rukia told you?!” Ichigo raised his voice in disbelief, before realising that he was attracting attention again and shut his mouth immediately. Forcing himself to take a mouthful of the spaghetti, he chewed on it for a moment before another thought came into his mind. “Toushirou knows?” _‘Oh fuck!’_

“Nope, he doesn’t. I’m not going to be spilling secrets to him. For you though, I think there are some things you should know.” Sounding more mature than her usual self, Rangiku continued, “I won’t blame you if you decide to drop everything after this. If you do hurt him, I don’t think you want to know what I can do though.”

“From what I do know, senpai’s parents died in some car accident when he was really young. He was sent to live with his grandmother in California, with Momo, who’s actually his distant cousin, though they treated each other like siblings. They clicked right from the start, since her parents had passed away too, and went to the same school.”

“Some time later, after she picked up ice skating, he decided to take it up as well so he could keep a look out for her. She was good and on course to win something, then came what you know.” Rangiku looked at Ichigo for some acknowledgement, but seeing the slight confusion, she continued.

“Well you know, the suicide.” There was a tinge of sadness in her voice as she continued. “After that, senpai was intent on proving that Aizen played a part in causing it. He’s been so focused on trying to find evidence; between that and his studies, he didn’t seem to be doing anything else. I’ve never seen him smile again since; he used to joke with Momo, even though he was generally cool around most people. It seems as though he’s closed himself off from everyone.”

Ichigo sat in silence, taking another sip of water as he digested the information. There was something that bugged him still; Rangiku had not mentioned any boyfriends or any sort of relationship. “Do you know if Toushirou’s gay?”

“Nope,” Rangiku replied in her normal tone. “That shouldn’t be a problem since he hasn’t been in any relationships at all.”

“You mean you want me to try to get that ice block to go out with me, without even knowing whether there’s a chance he will like me. You must be joking. Hell, there’s no chance I’m going to fall for that.” Ichigo hissed, scowl returning in full force as he recalled his first crush.

“It wouldn’t hurt for you to try?”

“Damn right it won’t.” Ichigo rebutted, raising his voice slightly. “How much do you know about unrequited love?” He snarled.

Surprisingly, Rangiku seemed unnaturally subdued when she replied, her cheery disposition deflated. “ _I do._ Trust me. Some times, there’s nothing more you can do, but believe in that person.”

Ichigo had no reply to that. It was only several moments later that he managed to reply grudgingly after some thought, “I guess…I’ll… give it a shot then.”

“Now that it’s settled, it’s time for more shopping.” Smiling as normal, Rangiku waved her hand vigorously in the air for a waiter to settle the bill.

~~~

The next morning, the first day of the competition, Ichigo woke up even before the alarm went off. Sitting up, he looked over at the sleeping figure of the white haired skater. Innocent in sleep, the only thing that marred it was the slight frown across his lips. _‘I sure hope you’re worth the trouble.’_ He sat in silence in the few minutes before the alarm went off.

“Mornin’ Tosh’.” The orange haired student reporter stretched as he got out of bed and greeted the skater. White haired messily tousled, the skater sat up in bed, seeming not fully awake and grunted in reply.

After they both washed up and dressed, they headed down to the restaurant in the hotel lobby for the breakfast buffet. Shortly after they started picking out their food, they were joined by Rukia and Rangiku. Breakfast passed mostly in silence until Rukia asked, “Hitsugaya-senpai, we’re headed to the rink after breakfast. Do you mind coming early or do you want to wait until it’s time for your warm up?”

Taking a sip of his orange juice, the white haired skater seemed to ponder for a moment before he replied. “It’s fine. I’ll go early. I just need my iPod since I’ll be listening to the pieces whether I’m here or there.”

“Okay then. We’ll meet back at the lobby in fifteen minutes then.” Wrapping up their breakfast soon after, they headed back to their respective rooms to pack for the day. Back in their room, Ichigo checked his bag to ensure that he had everything he needed and grabbed the skates. This time, the action elicited no protest from the skater, who was carrying a backpack.

Reaching the lobby early, they waited five minutes for the two girls before they headed to the rink. “So senpai, how are you feeling? It’s been so long since you skated.” Rangiku’s cheery voice called out as they walked.

“Hn. I have been skating since the beginning of the year if you didn’t know,” came the stoic reply.

“So Rukia, what do you think of the level of competition?” Ichigo asked, having missed the practice session yesterday. Even though his article would be focused on Rukia and Toushirou, he still needed some information about the other competitors.

The black haired skater considered briefly before replying. “There are only two other skaters here who placed within the top ten at this year’s nationals, Lenalee Lee and Aria Link. I’m expecting somewhat tough competition. For the guys, well, the defending champion is Aaroniero Arruruerie, a senior from Las Noches, who also placed within the top ten at this year’s nationals. There are only four guys here though, so it’s probably between the both of them.” She glanced at the white haired skater, then back to the orange haired teenager.

Ichigo nodded his head, glancing at Toushirou, who looked his usual self. “Good luck then.” Reaching the rink, the four of them headed for the reporting officials before they headed for the seats sans Rukia, who had to get ready for her official short programme practice.

This time, Toushirou led the trio up the stairs to seats higher up in the rink. Seating himself, he pulled out his iPod and earphones before speaking. “Don’t bother me until lunch when Rukia’s done.” Ichigo nodded and watched as he glared at Rangiku, seeming to reinforce his words before pulling out a book from his backpack.

“So Ichigo, tell me more about the competition.” The blonde said, sitting down, and pulling the orange haired student down to seat between herself and Toushirou.

“You mean you don’t know and you’re here? How many competitions have you been to?” Ichigo replied in disbelief.

“This is my second. The first was the national competition thingy that senpai won.” Rangiku said with a smile.

“Here’s a quick run through then. There’s two parts to the competition, the short programme and the free skate. During the former, the skater has to perform certain specified moves, called elements, within the time given, with music. For the latter, they have a longer time to express themselves and the elements are slightly less restricted.

There are four types of elements – jumps, spins, the step sequence and spiral sequence. The spiral sequence is only for ladies, while both men and ladies do the other three. Within each group of elements, there are different variations. For spins, there are three general types, sitting, camel and upright.”

“Camel? What’s camel?” asked the blonde.

“That’s when the skater has one leg on ice and the body and the free leg form a ‘T-shape’. There’s someone on the rink practicing now – that girl in orange.” Ichigo pointed out and watched Rangiku nod in acknowledgement before he continued.

“For the jumps, there are six types. From easiest to hardest, they are called the toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip, Lutz and Axel. It’s not easy to differentiate them because they classified by how the skater launches himself into air, and how the skater lands back on the ice.

For all these elements, there are marks allocated. There’s also another part like the choreography and how the skater performs that has marks. The marks given by all the judges are then averaged to give the final marks for both parts. The winner is the one with the most marks.” Looking over at Rangiku, Ichigo wonders if she understood his introduction.

“Okay then, I’ll ask later if I have any questions.” Catching sight of a familiar figure on the ice, Rangiku suddenly exclaimed, “That’s Rukia.”

“Ah, I see her.” Ichigo replied, glancing around the rink before spotting the white clad figure. After observing her for a short while, he opened his bag and took out the book he brought, together with his iPod and headphones. Pulling them on and opening the book at the bookmark, he settled in for some reading, occasionally glancing up to look at Rangiku who was observing the skaters intently, and sneaking glances at the quiet Toushirou next to him, immersed in his book.

Some time later, Rukia was done and joined them at their seats. She sat there observing the other skaters practice, occasionally pointing out things to the blonde junior. When the practice session was over and the ice was being resurfaced, she tapped on Ichigo’s shoulder.

Pulling off his headphones, Ichigo asked, “Lunch?” and received a nod in return. “How long do we have?”

“At least half an hour. Hitsugaya-senpai only starts after the junior ladies, which starts after this. I asked earlier, there’re eight competitors for that, and there’s resurfacing in between.” Rukia replied.

“Let’s head somewhere nearby then. Senpai!” Rangiku stood and tapped Toushirou on his shoulder. “It’s time for lunch!”

Nodding, Toushirou kept his book, earphones and iPod, before heading out of the rink with the other three. A block down, they found a small café that sold sandwiches and soup, where they tucked in for lunch.

Back at the rink after their lunch, it was Toushirou’s turn for his free skate practice. Paying slightly more attention this time, it did not take long for Ichigo to spot the defending champion. The black haired skater was the only other one who was performing relatively complicated moves on the ice confidently. Nodding to himself as music blared in his ears, he then spotted Coach Ukitake out of the corner of his eye and waved. The white haired man smiled at him after making his way down the stairs to where they were seated, near the rink this time.

“Hey Coach.” Lifting his headphones, the orange haired student called out.

“Ichigo.” Ukitake greeted with his usual smile before turning to Rukia. “Rukia, how was practice earlier?”

As his coach sat down next to the black haired skater and began listening to her, Ichigo tuned out, turning his attention back to the ice where Toushirou was practicing. Soon after, the junior men short skate started. Dividing his attention between the rink and his notepad, where he was already planning for the article, he missed Toushirou returning, only looking up when he heard the soft ‘thud’ of the skater’s backpack landing next to him. “Practice was okay, I guess?”

Nodding in response, the white haired skater walked past them and seated himself next to his coach, waiting for him to finish up with Rukia. A minute later, Rukia took her leave, dragging Rangiku with her, muttering something about makeup, leaving Toushirou deep in discussion with Ukitake. “Good luck!” Ichigo called out as Rukia headed off before turning his attention back to the rink where the last skater had just begun skating.

Not long later came the resurfacing once again, and then it was the start of the senior ladies competition.

Even though it was his first ever skating competition, Ichigo had looked briefly at other figure skating articles on the Internet to know what sort of information he needed. Somewhat meticulously, he jotted down the name of the competitor, her coach, college and the piece she was skating to when the skater was introduced, and the score for the short programme that was announced later.

Shortly after the first skater had finished, Rangiku returned and Coach Ukitake excused himself soon after. Between taking notes on the various jump combinations and pointing out the differences to the strawberry blonde, Ichigo also made sure to take special note of the two other competitors that Rukia had mentioned.

The standard of the field was rather large, ranging from relatively simple routines to the complicated ones of previous participants of the Nationals. Rukia had been spot on with her predictions and after ten competitors, Lenalee Lee and Aria Link were ranked first and second respectively. Ichigo had written down as much of their routines as he could identify, just in the case he needed to use it in the article.

Finally, Rukia’s name was announced. “Last but not least, we have number thirteen, Rukia Kuchiki of Shinou College, Massachusetts. Coached by Juushirou Ukitake, she will be skating to Saint-Saens’ Le Cygne.”

As Rukia waved to the crowd, making several circles around the rink as a brief warm up, Ichigo glanced on amused as Rangiku, holding a video camera, shouted from her seat, “You go girl!” Soon, the music started and in her all white outfit, the black haired skater did indeed look like a swan as she glided and jumped elegantly.

Having seen the routine a couple of times, Ichigo was familiar with it and was glad for her when she skated what seemed a flawless routine to him, her double axel, triple Lutz, and triple flip-triple toe loop combination all landing cleanly. It was no surprise when it was announced while Rukia waited at the kiss and cry area that she was placed first after the short programme. “With a score of 28.60 for the elements and a programme score of 29.53, Rukia Kuchiki leads after the short programme with a total score of 58.13. Lenalee Lee is in second place with 54.97 and…”

As the machine came on the ice for resurfacing, Ichigo decided to pop by the competitor area to wish Toushirou good luck. He had missed the skater leaving earlier, having been paying close attention to Lenalee’s routine and hoped to wish him good luck before the competition.

Showing his pass, he headed past the security and kept a lookout for the distinctive white hair of Toushirou and Coach Ukitake. Turning around a bend, he caught a glimpse of white hair beyond a group of skaters and hurried past. The first thing he noticed about Toushirou was how well the costume fitted him. The white top seemed to be moulded to his slim figure and the slight V at the front showed off a tantalising glimpse of a muscular chest.

 _‘He’s hot.’_ Pausing momentarily, Ichigo’s eyes roamed over the skater, before he gathered his senses and walked over. “Erm… Toushirou, good luck! We’ll be rooting for you out there.”

The white haired skater nodded a little absent-mindedly, a picture of cool as usual, before his turquoise eyes met brown ones. Scowl forming, he demanded, “Kurosaki, how many times do I need to tell you to call me Hitsugaya?”

Ignoring it with a grin, the orange haired sophomore then looked down as he felt his cell phone vibrate. “That must be Rangiku. I’m off then. All the best!” He patted the skater on the shoulder before rushing off back to the stands.

Seating himself just in time as the first competitor was announced, Ichigo retrieved his writing pad and jotted down the usual information. Similar to the ladies, the variation in standard was rather wide, though the field was much smaller for the men. Slightly distracted by how Toushirou looked, and also unimpressed by the skater, Ichigo began flipping through the earlier notes he took on the ladies short skate.

Rangiku had picked up on it apparently and leaned over to whisper, “So, how was senpai?”

“The same,” Ichigo replied. Feeling a faint blush rising, he immediately changed the topic, thankful for the announcement. “Shh! The points are coming out.” Turning away and missing the grin on the blonde’s face, he jotted down the points and immediately shifted his attention to the ice when the next competitor was announced.

“Next, we have number two, Aaroniero Arruruerie. Hailing from Las Noches College, California and coached by Sousuke Aizen, he will be skating to Ravel’s Bolero.” As the black haired skater launched into a triple flip-triple toe loop, the orange haired student reporter knew that this guy would prove to be stiff competition.

Noting down the jumps, a triple Axel and triple Lutz, step sequence and spins, Ichigo could not help but be nervous before the marks were announced. “With 36.92 for the elements and 37.57 for the programme, Aaroniero Arruruerie currently leads the men’s field with 74.49 points.”

“Next, we have Toushirou Hitsugaya, number three, coached by Juushirou Ukitake and from Shinou College. He will be skating to a Chinese piece, Harvest Festival, composed by Nai-Chung Kwan.” Clapping, Ichigo watched as the white haired skater glided around the ice before taking up his starting position at the centre of the rink.

As the music reached its first climax, the orange haired student reporter watched while Toushirou landed his first jump, a triple axel, right on the beat. The white haired skater wore a fierce look of concentration, turning and twisting on the ice as he portrayed the villagers dancing festively around the bonfire.

At the music’s cue, he jumped, proceeding into a flying camel spin as the theme reappeared. Following up immediately with his triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination as the music reached another climax, he stepped and twisted on the ice again before ending with an upright spin as all the instruments rose to a crescendo.

The few minutes passed as Toushirou waited at the kiss and cry area. Feeling even more anxious had he had been earlier, Ichigo doodled in his notepad as he waited for the announcement. Next to him, Rangiku looked somewhat worried as well. Although she was new to watching figure skating, she could tell that the guy before her senpai had done very well too.

“And we have the results. With 38.15 for the elements and 35.95 for his programme, Toushirou Hitsugaya stands in second place with 74.10 points after the short skate.”

Looking at the earlier score, Ichigo almost heaved a sigh of relief at the small gap between the scores. ‘It’s only 0.39. So it’s all up to the free skate tomorrow.’ Turning to Rangiku, who looked a little bewildered at the announcement, he told her, “Don’t worry. There’s still tomorrow and the score difference isn’t huge. It’s only 0.39 points. If Toushirou does well tomorrow, he can still win, since more points are awarded to the free skate segment.”

Looking slightly more solemn, the blonde nodded. They settled down to watch the last competitor, who eventually only posted a score much lower to settle for third place. After that, they headed back to the competitors’ area to wait for the score sheets to be released before they headed back to the hotel for dinner and a good night’s rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested, this is Toushirou's short programme routine. I decided to go with Chinese Orchestral pieces instead of the conventional classical/contemporary ones used in skating since I'm familiar with them and I wanted to reflect Soifon's 'Chinese' heritage in some way.  
> Harvest Festival (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KFV4U-_rVE)  
> 1) 3A  
> 2) CSSp3  
> 3) SeSt3  
> 4) 3Lo  
> 5) FCSp3  
> 6) 3Lu + 3T  
> 7) CCoSp3
> 
> I actually made up Rukia's routine on the spot, since I am familiar with the two pieces I had her using (practiced both on the piano before). It might be kinda obvious that I only have bits and pieces of the full set of elements. Didn't bother for the rest.


	3. Preliminary Accomplishments

Hand reaching out to tap the snooze button on the alarm for the second time, Ichigo opened his eyes slowly and yawned. Turning over to look at the time, he noted the digits in black that read ’07.40’ and suddenly remembered what he had promised the night before.

 _‘Shit!’_ Sitting up immediately, he glanced over at the next bed and realised that it was empty. _‘Where’s Tosh’?’_ It took him a few seconds for his mind to equate the noises in the bathroom with the empty bed and realise that the skater was already awake.

Stretching, the orange haired student rubbed his eyes then ran a hand through his messy hair. The conversation they had the night before was slowly coming back to him.

_Returning back to their hotel room after dinner with Coach Ukitake, the skater had headed to shower immediately and was reading when Ichigo came out of the shower. “Kurosaki, wake me up at 7.30 tomorrow.”_

_Towelling his hair dry, Ichigo asked, “Why?”_

_Barely looking up from the book he was reading, Toushirou responded in his usual cool tone. “I want to have a swim as a warm up before the competition tomorrow. You don’t need to come along.”_

_“Are you kidding? You shouldn’t be exhausting yourself before the competition. What if you get injured?” Scowling, Ichigo put the towel down and turned to glare at the skater._

_“Coach Ukitake said it’s fine to get some light exercise in.”_

_“I’m coming along. Byakuya would kill me if anything happened to you.” Ichigo replied._

_“It’s settled then. Don’t oversleep. I’m headed to bed soon.” The white haired skater threw a cool gaze at him, as if reinforcing the point that he thought he would oversleep, then returned to his book._

_Fifteen minutes later, Ichigo heard the ‘click’ of the switch while he was organising his notes from the competition on a new page in his notepad._ ‘He’s off to bed then. I should wrap up soon.’ _It was another forty-five minutes before he headed to bed – ten minutes more on his notes and the rest of the time finishing up the chapter on cranial nerves he had been reading earlier at the rink._

Flipping back the sheets, Ichigo got out of bed and slipped his feet into his pair of black flip-flops. Stretching, he made his way to his bag and pulled out his pair of trunks and goggles.

He had been surprised when Toushirou had said he wanted to swim; he was prepared nevertheless. He worked out often on his own, in addition to team training. It was summer after all and since swimming was good exercise, the orange haired teenager had been hoping to get a hotel with a pool that he could use if he had the chance.

He just had not expected an early morning swim of all things. “Kurosaki, you have five minutes to clean up and get changed. We are supposed to meet the girls for breakfast.” That jolted him from his thoughts and he hastily headed to the bathroom.

It was only after he had cleaned up and changed, coming out of the bathroom in his trunks with the towel wrapped around his waist, that he realised that Toushirou was dressed in the same manner. Unable to keep his eyes off the smooth, lightly muscled chest, he almost missed the skater’s words. “Let’s go. I’ve got the key.”

“Oh… okay.” As they headed down to the pool, Ichigo found himself staring at the smooth lines of muscle and bone of the skater’s back, admiring the blemish-free white skin. In fact, they had similar builds, just that he was taller and slightly more muscular from training, though nowhere as muscular as Renji.

Reaching the pool quickly, Ichigo watched as Toushirou immediately placed his towel on a deck chair and tested the water with a foot. “The water’s fine,” he muttered, before beginning on stretches at the side of the pool.

Rooted on the spot once he caught sight of the skater’s fitting white trunks with blue stripes on the left, Ichigo immediately tried to focus on remembering the scores from the previous day’s short programme – the trunks left _little_ to his imagination. Catching a stern but questioning glance shot at him, the orange haired teenager hurriedly placed his towel on the adjacent deck chair, revealing a pair of equally fitting black trunks with red stripes on the left and began his stretching as well.

Seeing Toushirou slipping into the water like a fish taking to water and taking his word on the temperature, Ichigo dove in once he had finished stretching and regretted it immediately. Surfacing, he shouted at the skater, “The water is _fucking_ freezing. How can it be fine?”

Ignoring him, the white haired skater had already put on his goggles and begun swimming with slow and steady strokes. _‘I’m so going to get you for this.’_ Ichigo submerged himself again, trying to get used to the cold water before he starting on his laps as well.

It did not take him long to catch up and the orange haired hockey goalkeeper spent the rest of the time swimming leisurely alongside the white haired skater, keeping pace and silently admiring how he seemed more relaxed in the cool waters of the pool.

Approximately half an hour later, they were done with their laps and headed back to their room for a quick shower. After getting changed, they met Rukia and Rangiku for breakfast, then headed to the rink. Similar to the previous day, Rukia then Toushirou had their official free skate practice under the watchful eye of Coach Ukitake before they headed for lunch.

Returning to the rink after lunch, the group of five settled down in their seats, each to their own, all except Rangiku ignoring the ongoing junior ladies free skate. Ichigo was three quarter way through the chapter on the peripheral nervous system when the junior men free skate started. That was the cue for Rukia to report to the officials.

“Good luck and have fun! I expect to write about your win.” Ichigo told the black haired skater with a smile.

“I will definitely do my best.” With that, Rukia excused herself, heading off to the competitor area with Rangiku and their coach.

Turning to look at Toushirou, his eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he listened to whatever was playing on his iPod, Ichigo smiled, then turned back to his book, hoping to finish the chapter before the senior free skate started.

Just as the ice resurfacing was completed, Ichigo closed the book with a soft ‘thump’. Opening his bag, he placed the book inside and took out his writing pad and trusty pencil. Turning it open to a new page, he twirled his pencil and glanced over at the white haired skater as he waited for the first skater to be announced. Alert turquoise eyes greeted him and he responded with a smile, before turning back to his pad as the announcement for the beginning of the senior ladies free skate blared overhead.

Rangiku was back by then and after Ichigo told her that the order of appearance of the skaters for the free skate were arranged by their scores in the short programme, from lowest to highest, she had insisted that he teach her how to identify the different jumps. Taking down the name and music of each skater, followed by their score later, the orange haired sophomore and blonde junior played what could be called the ‘identify the jump’ game in between as the skaters waltzed and leapt on the ice.

Halfway through, it was Toushirou’s turn to leave. “Good luck!” Ichigo wished sincerely, as their gazes connected for a moment. Rangiku then took the chance to hug the skater tightly, and spoke with her usual cheer, “I know you will win this.” Nodding in response, the white haired skater headed off to report in and prepare himself for the competition.

Reaching the final five lady skaters, Ichigo began taking more detailed notes on their routines. As Coach Ukitake and Rukia had discussed over dinner the night before, both Lenalee and Aria put up solid performances, though both seemed to have fluffed one or two jumps. It was finally Rukia’s turn again.

“Again, we have Rukia Kuchiki of Shinou College, Massachusetts as our final competitor for the senior ladies free skate. Coached by Juushirou Ukitake, she topped the field for the short programme and will be skating to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata for the free skate.”

As the crowd clapped, Rangiku got the video camera ready once again. As Rukia’s minder, she had been tasked to record both the skaters’ performances so that they could review them subsequently.

The serene tones of the first movement of the piano piece rang out as the black haired skater, dressed in an outfit of shimmering black, rose from her starting bowed squatting position. Gliding gracefully over the ice initially, Rukia rose to the challenge of landing her jumps during the faster third movement excerpt. In a series of jumps, the petite skater managed a triple Lutz, a double Axel, a triple Salchow-triple toe loop-double toe loop triple jump combination, and finally a triple flip-double toe loop combination. Ending off with a spin, it seemed a relatively flawless routine to Ichigo.

At the kiss and cry area, Ukitake looked a little worried. It seemed she had took off on the wrong edge for her Lutz and under-rotated the double toe loop in her triple jump combination. Nevertheless, he was still proud of his student being able to pull off such an attempt so early in the season. Patting her on the shoulder as she joined him, they sat down to wait for the results.

A few minutes later, the speakers crackled to life. “With an element score of 54.13 and a programme score of 52.60, Rukia Kuchiki has a total score of 106.73 for her free skate. With a combined score of 164.86, she is this year’s collegiate senior ladies’ figure skating champion. Congratulations.”

Cheers and clapping broke out in the rink before the announcer continued, awarding second and third place to Lenalee Lee and Aria Link respectively. After a short pause, he announced the start of the senior men’s free skate in five minutes.

Fifteen minutes later, Ichigo and Rangiku sat at the edge of their seats as Toushirou entered the rink. “In second place after the short programme, we have Toushirou Hitsugaya, coached by Juushirou Ukitake. From Shinou College, Massachusetts, he will be skating to another Chinese piece, Return of Spring, composed by Guan-Ren Gu for his free skate.”

Making another two circles on the ice, Toushirou came to a stop in the centre of the ice and bowed his head. A few seconds later, the music started and as the instruments rose to a crescendo, he jumped, nailing the triple Axel. Following the rhythmic part that echoed the initial theme, he landed the next two jumps successfully.

Turning a deaf ear to the clapping that followed each successful element, he concentrated on the music, completing his second step sequence then a complicated combined spin as the piece accelerated. Despite being slightly off the tempo, he knew the hard part was to come. Concentrating as the dynamics of the piece changed, depicting war, he came off his spin, landing the triple Salchow.

It was followed by another jump combination, then a triple Axel-double toe loop-double loop triple jump, ending off with a triple loop as the music reached a climax and died down. Rebirth followed and he glided smoothly over the ice as the main theme made its reappearance. With the wind instruments blaring out the main theme at a fast, lively tempo, the piece reached its final climax and in perfect timing, he completed his final move, another combined spin just as the last note rang out.

Bowing several times to the enthusiastic audience, the white haired skater breathed slightly easier as he made his way to the kiss and cry area, where his coach was waiting. “That was a good performance.”

“Thank you, Coach.”

“Don’t worry too much. What comes comes.” The white haired coach spoke in his usual soft tones, patting the skater on his shoulder as they waited for the results.

Back in the stands, Ichigo and Rangiku held their breaths as the announcement came. “With 70.10 points for elements and 74.49 points for programme, Toushirou Hitsugaya currently leads the overall standings with a score of 144.59 for the free skate and a combined total of 218.69 points.”

“Last but not least, we have Aaroniero Arruruerie of Las Noches College, California. Coached by Sousuke Aizen, the overnight leader will be skating to Puccini’s Tosca.” Looking rather arrogant, the black haired skater began by landing a triple Axel-triple toe jump combination.

From the stands, Ichigo noted down all the elements he could tell. He was much more familiar with Toushirou’s routine and knew that the white haired skater had not committed any major errors. The black haired skater seemed on course for a repeat of his performance during the short skate until some way midway in his routine.

As the skater on the ice took off for what seemed a triple Lutz, relatively distinguishable due to the take off and counter rotation, the orange haired student reporter felt that there was something off about the jump. While he was not sure if the black haired skater had fluffed it, his attention focused on the subsequent elements, it seemed to affect his performance as he seemed to land awkwardly on his second triple Axel.

Despite the possible errors he spotted and told Rangiku, Ichigo still could not help feeling anxious as the skater made his way to the kiss and cry area. The few minutes he waited for the results seemed like an eternity before the speakers came to life again.

“Clocking an element score of 68.40 and a programme score of 74.69…” _‘Please let his total be less than 144.’_ “…Aaroniero Arruruerie has obtained a score of 143.09 for the free skate and an overall score of 217.58 points.” Before the announcer could even complete his announcement, cheers erupted as Rangiku hugged Ichigo excitedly. “Senpai won!”

“This year’s collegiate senior men’s figure skating champion is Toushirou Hitsugaya with 218.69 points. The runner up is Aaroniero…”

Hardly paying attention to the announcement, Ichigo noted the rather obvious anger on the black haired skater’s face from the corner of his eye. _‘I guess that makes Toushirou even happier. He beat Aizen’s student.’_ Starting to feel uncomfortable, the orange haired student turned back to the blonde, “Er… Rangiku, could you let go of me now? We should be going to look for them.”

“Yes. Let’s go! We should have a celebration. Hmm… I wonder what nice restaurants there are nearby?” Smiling widely, the blonde muttered to herself as she headed towards the exit and the competitors’ area.

Stuffing his pencil and notepad into his bag, Ichigo picked up Toushirou’s backpack and Rukia’ bag that Rangiku had forgot about in her excitement, and made his way after her. After showing their passes, they were admitted and spotted by Rukia immediately.

“This way, Ichigo, Rangiku,” she called out.

“Hey Rukia, congrats! Where’s Toushirou?”

“Oh thank you. I’m expecting an excellent article. Hitsugaya-senpai’s in the washroom at the moment. We need to stay for the photos and prize presentation after this. It shouldn’t take that long.” Rukia replied before being hugged by Rangiku.

“Congrats, congrats! Where do you think we should go for dinner to celebrate?” The blonde spoke after letting go of the black haired skater.

“Kuchiki, where are you?” Amidst the shouts for her name, Rukia turned and said, “I need to go for the prize presentation now. Just stay around, Coach Ukitake is somewhere around.” Turning, she made her way quickly down the crowded corridor, disappearing among the people.

“Come on Ichigo, let’s go look for senpai. I’m sure you want to congratulate him personally.” Without waiting for a reply, the busty blonde pulled on the orange haired teenager, making her way through the crowd. Turning round a corner, she caught sight of white hair and immediately shouted, “Senpai, we’re here. Wait a minute!”

Ichigo had caught sight of the white haired skater seconds after the blonde and was greeted with a scowl as Toushirou turned in their direction. Thankfully, it was less crowded here and they made their way over quickly.

Launching into a hug immediately, Rangiku chattered excitedly, “Oh sen-pai! Congratulations! You know, me and Ichigo were so nervous up there. It was so thrilling and you were fantastic.”

“Matsumoto, let go of me.” In his usual cool tones, Toushirou replied and found an outstretched hand waiting for him once the blonde had let go.

“Congratulations. You skated excellently.” Ichigo said, arm extended and a smile on his face.

“Thank you,” the white haired skater replied, tone slightly warmer this time, shaking the hand firmly. “I need to go see if it’s my turn for the prize presentation and photos.”

Letting go just slightly reluctantly, Ichigo replied, “We’ll wait around here then and try to get coach as well.”

Not long later, Rukia appeared with Coach Ukitake following behind her, both of them still discussing her earlier performance animatedly. Catching sight of the pair, she informed them, “Anyway, I messaged nii-sama just now about the results. He’s agreed to pay for the celebration dinner and apologises for not being able to make it. He’s about to head to Japan for a meeting.

We just need to wait a little more for Hitsugaya-senpai. Thankfully there aren’t any compulsory interviews from the press. I’ll go and change out first.” Gesturing to her attire, the black haired skater passed the small bouquet of flowers and medal to Rangiku before retrieving her bag from Ichigo.

“Coach Ukitake, do you want me to pass you the video cam now?” Rangiku then turned to ask the white haired coach.

“You can hold onto it until we get back to the hotel. I don’t have a bag to put it in at the moment. Sorry.”

“No worries.” Catching sight of the white haired skater as he walked in from the rink, the blonde waved and called out yet again. “Senpai, we’re here.”

“I’m going to change.” Taking his backpack from the orange haired hockey player, Toushirou passed his bouquet and medal over to him and headed for the washroom.

A few minutes later, Rukia came out, dressed in a summer dress and flats. Passing her skates over to Ichigo, the two girls then burst into giggles after Rangiku whispered something in her ear.

Suspecting that they were up to something yet again, Ichigo scowled and asked, “What are both of you up to again?”

“Well, nothing. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice that _Hitsugaya-senpai passed you a bouquet of flowers…_ ” Allowing her voice to trail off, Rukia watched as Ichigo turned a shade of pink, the potential implication of the skater’s action sinking in.

“Shut up.” Ichigo muttered, glaring at the two girls before turning and seeing that Toushirou was back, dressed in the shirt and jeans he had worn earlier.

“Kurosaki, bouquet and medal please.” The skater said, handing over his skates.

Handing over the medal and bouquet, he caught sight of the girls giggling yet again and his blush darkened. _‘I don’t think he would like flowers on a date. Wait… where the hell did that come from?’_ Picking up the two pairs of skates, he said, “Let’s go back to the hotel first so that we can dump some of our stuff. We could ask the hotel for recommendations if we can’t find anything nice.”

With that, the group of them headed back to the hotel, before deciding on a nice Japanese place for dinner. The next day, they checked out and returned home. Their semester would start in a week and they all had plans for the remainder of their summer holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested, this is Toushiro's free skate routine. As I said in the last chapter, I've no idea how to describe how I cut the piece and which parts I fitted the elements to though...  
> Return of Spring (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM5nRGhSCCE)  
> 1) 3A  
> 2) 3F + 3T  
> 3) CiSt3  
> 4) CCSp3  
> 5) 4T  
> 6) 3Lu  
> 7) ChSt1  
> 8) CCoSp4  
> 9) 3S  
> 10) 3Lu + 2T  
> 11) 3A + 3T + 2L  
> 12) 3Lo  
> 13) FCCoSp3
> 
> And as posted in the last chapter too, I actually made up Rukia's routine on the spot, since I am familiar with the two pieces I had her using (practiced both on the piano before). It might be kinda obvious that I only have bits and pieces of the full set of elements.


	4. Hesitant Steps

A week later, the semester started and Ichigo turned in his article to Shuuhei. As their majors were mostly different, all of them had quite different timetables. Nonetheless, that did not stop Ichigo from meeting up with various groups of people for lunch on different days. In fact, he saw more of everybody except Toushirou.

It was only on a Saturday that he met the white haired skater practicing at the rink. In the first week, the rink booking schedule was sufficiently unreliable that his team only practiced on the college’s rink instead of using Byakuya’s private rink as well. They had only exchanged greetings then and Toushirou had rejected his invitation to go out for dinner, stating that he had work to do.

That night, he immediately messaged Rangiku, asking if she had a copy of Toushirou’s timetable. Although they were both different majors, hers sociology and him a double major in history and philosophy, most of their classes were held in the same buildings. A biology major, Ichigo’s classes were held in a slightly different part of the campus.

Two days later, when he met Rangiku together with some of his teammates for lunch, she passed him a copy of his timetable, neatly annotated with what she had found out about his practice times. “Thank you,” he muttered, wanting to keep it immediately.

Renji had however caught sight of it and immediately snatched it out of his hands. “Why, why, whose timetable is this? I spot something called the History of Philosophy on it.” Grinning, the taller redhead held it out of reach of Ichigo.

Scowling, Ichigo made an attempt to get it before deciding to reply before the rest of his teammates turned up. “Renji, look it’s… er… Toushirou’s. Please return it.”

“You’re no fun, Ichi.” Renji sulked briefly, having expected more resistance before returning the timetable intact, knowing it was important to the orange haired teenager.

Retrieving his box file, Ichigo slotted the timetable in and returned the plastic file to his bag. Timetable safe, he then glared at the redhead and remarked _sarcastically_. “Well, I think this doesn’t compare to how you have Byakuya’s schedule memorised so well. You’re probably more up to date than Rukia and even his secretary. I bet you’ll ace any test on it.”

_“Why you!”_

Before Renji could think of a suitable reply, the juniors that made up the first team came walking down the corridor, together with Yumichika. “Hey Shuuhei, Kira, Ikkaku, Yumi. Chad’s busy with something today, so he asked us to go ahead without him.” Ichigo called out.

“Okay. Where’re we headed to today?” Shuuhei asked as the group continued down the corridor, with Renji settling for a punch to the goalkeeper’s arm instead.

~~~

With schedule in hand, Ichigo managed to find two other suitable time slots where he could conveniently appear during the white haired junior’s skating practice. Toushirou had Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons off; coincidentally, both his afternoon class and Toushirou’s first class on Wednesday started at the same time. That meant he had a chance of asking the skater out for lunch before they made their way to school.

Together with the practice he attended on Saturdays before his own ice hockey practice later, it made for three chances a week and Ichigo believed that his persistence would eventually break down the barriers Toushirou had erected around himself.

August flowed into September, October then November. For college, Ichigo had tutorials, studying and the weekly lab reports, as well as the additional reading he was doing for medical school. As the first team goalkeeper, he had to attend the thrice weekly or more practices as they prepared for their season starting October, then came their regular season with games every weekend, and twice weekly practices. In addition, being the incoming Vice Captain of the team, he also had to learn some of the administration duties.

Together with his attempts at going after Toushirou, Ichigo was perpetually busy. It was a delicate balance yet he enjoyed it, for his team was performing splendidly on the ice and his efforts at reaching out to the white haired skater were starting to pay off.

Even though he had missed the New England regional qualifiers because it coincided with the second game of their season, it seemed that his message then had finally broken a hole in the icy walls of Toushirou’s personality. He had called Rukia, who had accompanied Toushirou, before his game and learnt that the white haired skater had easily qualified as the top competitor for the next round.

In the locker room just before the game was about the start, the orange haired goalkeeper hastily typed a message on his cell phone before sending it out. "Sorry I didn’t manage to catch you in action. Congrats on qualifying! =)"

Since then, Toushirou had been slightly more responsive to having meals with him and occasionally joined him and the rest of the ice hockey team for dinner after their practice. Despite this, they still hardly met in college given their respective busy schedules.

~~~

What Ichigo considered the next ‘breakthrough’ in their relationship happened one day during practice.

It was one of the rare weekends that he did not have a game and the team had been given the day off, having kept their unbeaten record since the start of the season. It was however the weekend before Toushirou’s Eastern sectionals and it had been easy for Ichigo to decide to catch up on his reading at the rink while he watched the white haired skater practice.

Having decided to sleep in slightly later, it was an unusually angsty Toushirou that he saw at the rink when he entered almost an hour later than his usual time. He had learnt how to read the white haired skater’s moods over time and when his morning greeting had not received the slightest acknowledgement, Ichigo knew something was not right.

Choosing a seat closer to the rink, the biology major took out a book on the endocrine system, but decided not to put his headphones on. His decision was proven right when he picked up growls, hisses and the ungainly clatter of skates on the ice surface while he read, picking up from where he had stopped the night before.

With things between them going slow but seemingly steady, or at least Ichigo thought, it was rather impossible for him to head over and hug Toushirou, despite how much he would have liked to. _‘I’m willing to bet that he doesn’t want any help whatsoever now.’_

The next time an awkward noise came from the ice, Ichigo looked up and met the white haired skater’s gaze. Obviously scowling, turquoise met and held brown eyes for a moment before Toushirou turned away with a ‘ _Tsk_ ’ noise. _‘It looks like I need to plan something or he’s gonna be like this for the rest of the day.’_

Returning to his book, the orange haired sophomore concentrated on finishing the current chapter he was reading before thinking of a plan. After coming up with something he knew would have met with Rangiku’s approval, he waited for the ideal moment to put it into the place.

When Toushirou’s skates clattered on the ice in an awkward landing for what seemed the umpteenth time, Ichigo stood up and called out, “Shall we go for lunch? I’m kinda hungry already.”

Seeing the skater hesitate for a moment, he continued, even though it was a little early for lunch, “We’re not going to having practice today, so you can actually practice later after lunch. Please?”

Grudgingly the white haired skater headed for the stands where his bag was. Seating down, he pulled off his skates and changed into shoes. Still frowning and obviously thinking of whatever was bothering him, Ichigo asked, “Where do you want to go for lunch?”

Seeing Toushirou shrug his shoulders nonchalantly, he continued, “Let’s go to that Japanese place two blocks down. I feel like having that today.” Selecting that place since he knew the skater loved the slices of watermelon they offered with the set meals, Ichigo was surprised when he did not pick up any sign of increased interest or muted excitement that usually accompanied that choice. _‘This really must be something big.’_

Ten minutes later, they were seated in the small Japanese eatery and waiting for their food. They did not talk much even normally, but today was different – Toushirou had a look of intense concentration on his face together with an irritated frown. That bothered Ichigo. _‘What exactly is he thinking about? Should I ask?’_

The orange haired sophomore was not sure if the white haired skater considered him close enough to ask about something that seemed personal. _‘…Why the hell am I thinking so much? I’ll just ask. Even if he doesn’t answer, at least I’ve tried.’_ Just as he opened his mouth, the motherly waitress came with their orders. “Here’s your unagi bento and your teriyaki bento. Enjoy your meal.”

“Thank you.” Ichigo replied, watching as Toushirou nodded his head absent-mindedly before he picked up the chopsticks and began eating. Ichigo picked up his set of chopsticks and transferred the two slices of watermelon to the skater’s bento box, where they joined the two slices there already. “For you.”

“…Hn.” It sounded normal, but was not accompanied by the usual sparkle in turquoise eyes.

“Okay then. We’re going for dessert after this. You have the rest of the afternoon to practice anyway.”

“…Hn.”

Listening to yet another distracted grunt, Ichigo decided to tuck into his lunch first. He could work out things over dessert later; after all, Toushirou had agreed, he already had plans for it, and besides, he was hungry.

~~~

“Where are we going? I need to practice.” Toushirou asked as they took a different turn that led away from the rink after their lunch.

“Well, you agreed on coming for dessert since you have the rest of the afternoon to practice. It’s not going to take long and you need a little time for the food to digest first.” Ichigo replied calmly, having already expected the question.

“Make it quick then.” The white haired skater huffed as he followed along.

A few turns and several streets down, they stopped in front of a small, tastefully decorated shop. Opening the door as a bell rang out, crystal clear, Ichigo called out, “Afternoon. Isane? Kiyone? Anyone?”

“Sorry, just give us a minute. Have a look first,” came a familiar voice from inside the shop.

“No problem. We’ll just take a look then.” Ichigo replied as he watched the white haired skater take in the shop with his usual observant gaze.

It was a small dessert shop, with the cashier facing the door. Next to it stood the ice cream chiller and the cake display chiller, and on the blackboards on the wall behind, was the menu detailed in chalk. Aside from ice cream, which was not all that popular during winter, the shop also sold cakes, teas and hot chocolate.

Wooden tables and chairs made up the seating area, while the walls of the shop were painted a sky blue, interspersed with white, making it seem as if one was seated amongst the clouds.

The same voice called out again. “Hi, good afternoon, welcome to Itegumo. What would you like... Kurosaki-kun?”

Ichigo sounded equally surprised at seeing the other sophomore, also his senior high classmate and friend. “Orihime? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m working part time here.” The orange haired girl replied with a smile. “Is there anything I can help with? Kiyone-san is behind putting the finishing touches on a cake.”

Turning to the white haired skater who was observing the exchange, Ichigo asked, “Toushirou, do you want to try their ice cream? It’s excellent. They have macha, goma, kokutou and yuzu,” reeling off several Japanese flavours that could not be found in most ice cream places.

“Would you like to try any? You can try all of them before you make your choice. We make all the ice cream here ourselves.” The cheerful girl smiled at the white haired boy, who was intently looking at the various ice cream.

“Orihime, please help me open the door to the cake display,” came another voice from the doorway behind the chillers.

“Right away,” came the reply before the orange haired girl turned to Toushirou and handed him a sample. “Please excuse me for a moment.”

Ichigo watched as the skater nodded while he tasted the ice cream before being interrupted by the second voice, its owner having made her appearance.

“Hey Ichigo, nice to see you. You’re early today. Where’s Rukia?” The dark blonde girl spoke as she fitted the cake into its slot in the display. “Thank you, Orihime.”

“Oh, I came without her today. This is Tou… er… Hitsugaya-senpai, from our college.” Ichigo changed his form of address as piercing blue-green eyes turned themselves on him in the middle of his introduction.

Kiyone smiled as she glanced at the white haired junior before turning back to Ichigo, “So what can I get you today?”

“A scoop of macha in a cone. Thanks.” Ichigo replied as he watched Orihime scoop a scoop of the cream coloured kokutou flavour before handing it to the white haired skater. _‘He’s having brown sugar. I guess he misses the stuff his grandmother makes.’_

After paying for his ice cream, Ichigo seated himself opposite Toushirou and asked, “So, how’s the ice cream?”

“It’s not too bad,” came the reply, although the eager excitement in the turquoise eyes gave the skater’s mood away to the hockey player.

They settled back into a more comfortable silence this time. As they ate their ice cream, Ichigo found himself becoming slightly distracted by the sight of the skater’s pink tongue licking at the cream coloured scoop of ice cream. Deciding that it was time to ask the question now that Toushirou’s mood seemed to be better, he began, “You know, studies have shown that eating ice cream can improve your mood.”

Having gotten the full attention of the skater, he continued, “Mind if I ask what was bothering you during training and over lunch?” Following a long pause, Ichigo watched as the frown reappeared briefly before the skater replied.

“Coach Soi Fon’s original choreography called for a quadruple toe loop during the free skate, so I could upgrade one of the double toe’s to a triple. It’s been two months but…”

“You know, I haven’t heard of a skater being able to tackle your current routine after taking a three year break and practicing only about half a year before your first competition. Also, you have another two months before the nationals. You’ll be able to do it by then.” Ichigo replied with a smile.

Seeing the unconvinced expression on the skater’s face, the orange haired hockey player continued, “Rushing things doesn’t always help. You still have to work on unlocking your emotions during your skating too,” repeating something he overheard Coach Ukitake saying and earning himself a glare.

“Taking a break and coming back to it when you’re less bothered helps. Just so you know, all of us have confidence in you.” With conviction, Ichigo replied, brown eyes meeting turquoise ones, as if attempting to impress on the skater his faith in him.

“…Hn.” Turning his head away, Toushirou turned away before he began munching on the crispy cone, licking at the diminishing ice cream in between.

In the ensuing silence that followed, Ichigo spent his time observing the customers that entered as the small shop slowly filled up, sneaking glances at the white haired skater, and never failing to be distracted by the skater’s deft tongue.

Later back at the rink, Toushirou decided to try the jump once again after warming up. Throwing a glance at the orange haired figure bent over a book in a corner, he accelerated as he sped over the ice before digging into the ice and leaping into the air. As he spun in the air, time seemed to slow down momentarily as he counted silently, _‘One, two, three, four.’_

Landing a little unsteadily and pushing down on the ice with his hand to regain his balance, he made a small loop before coming to a stop. _‘It seems he’s right.’_ As the glimmer of a smile crossed his lips, the white haired skater decided that the ice cream had helped as he continued with his practice.

~~~

The following Sunday, having already changed into his ice hockey goalkeeper uniform, Ichigo stepped out of the locker room for a brief moment while his team members were getting changed and getting ready before their game. ‘Dialling… Rukia’, the screen of his cell phone read. _‘Why’s Rukia not picking up? It’s the third time, my game’s starting and the competition should be over.’_

Pressing the button that indicated ‘End Call’, the orange haired goalkeeper looked at the time on the screen and decided to call someone else.

Four rings later, he heard a very familiar cool tone down the line. “Yes, Kurosaki?”

“Erm…” _‘Damn it, just ask him.’_ “How were the Sectionals?”

“Okay. I qualified for the Nationals.”

“Congrats, Toushirou!” Ichigo replied, a grin on his face. _‘I wonder how he’s feeling now.’_

“Kurosaki,” the cool voice carried an edge of irritation, “how many times do I need to tell you to call me Hitsugaya?” Then came a pause and Ichigo almost wondered if the skater had put down the phone. “Good luck for your game and thank you for calling.”

Eyes wide, Ichigo replied, “Thank you. I’ll see you when you’re back then. I need to go.”

“…Hn.” With that, the call was cut and the orange haired goalkeeper headed back to the locker room.

“Hey Ichi, it’s almost time. Why are you grinning? Who did you call just now?” Renji called out, spotting the returning goalkeeper and the phone in his hand.

“Just Rukia.” Despite that, Ichigo could not help blushing slightly as he kept his phone in the locker.

“Hey lemme see your phone. I don’t believe that.” Renji walked over, grinning.

“Coach’s here, too bad.” Ichigo replied, smirking and thanking Coach Ise for his lucky escape as he made his way over, joining the team as they gathered around their coach.

~~~

The next day, their victory was highlighted in a newly published article on the collegiate ice hockey website. “Shinou retained their unbeaten run to the season and top spot in their conference (10-3-0) as they swept their conference’s second placed Boston College (9-2-2) 5-2 in yesterday’s game. Shinou’s goalkeeper Ichigo Kurosaki made several splendid saves during the second and third halves, denying Boston any chance of forcing a draw. That moves Kurosaki up to second on the goaltending leader board. Renji Abarai, team captain, led the scoring, neatly slotting in the first goal of the game…”

That week, Ichigo invited Toushirou for Thanksgiving dinner at his house. Toushirou accepted the invitation. It was the first time since his parents’ death that he celebrated Thanksgiving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ice cream flavours translated: Macha - Green Tea, Goma - Sesame (Was referring to Black Sesame here), Kokutou - Brown Sugar, Yuzu - It's a citrus fruit without a common english name.  
> Itegumo is taken from Isane's Zanpakutou. It means 'Frozen Cloud', so I just decided to use it. XD


	5. Falling

A Wednesday, the Wednesday immediately after both their final exams were over, found Ichigo at the rink since morning, watching Toushirou practice yet again. “Er… Toushirou, do you have anything planned for tomorrow night?” The orange haired goalkeeper asked, their lunch just over.

“No. Was there supposed to be anything?” In his usual cool tones, the skater replied.

“Okay. I’ll meet you for dinner then.” Ichigo said, smiling.

“…Hn.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. I’m off to the hospital for an interview kinda. Damn, I’m going to be late, seeya.” With that, Ichigo dashed off, heading home to change before driving down to the hospital.

The next day, Ichigo rose early and headed out with Rukia to Boston on a grocery shopping mission, stopping for breakfast on their way. They had already decided what they would be getting for the white haired skater – Ichigo would be cooking, Rukia baking the cake, while Rangiku was in charge of planning, dessert and the special present.

After hearing from Rangiku that Toushirou’s birthday was after their finals, he had planned for a small dinner with people he knew the skater was relatively familiar with, knowing that Toushirou was a private person. Deciding on Rukia and Rangiku, which made for a dinner for four, he had shared his plans with them and was not surprised when both girls readily agreed.

The ingredients for the cake Rukia planned to make made the trip a necessity. The small town they lived in did not have a speciality shop that sold the azuki beans she planned to mix into the cream. Ichigo had tagged along at the skater’s insistence and was not surprised when he was made to carry all the ingredients she bought.

After lunch and a stop at the supermarket on their way back, where Ichigo bought the rest of the items he needed to prepare the dinner, they headed back to Rukia’s apartment to begin their preparations.

A few hours later, the cake was done and so were the curry, rice and side dishes that Ichigo had prepared. There only remained one last step – deep frying the tonkatsu and he had already asked for permission to cook that at Toushirou’s place. With that, they loaded up Rukia’s Beetle and headed to the house the white haired skater shared with Coach Ukitake – Toushirou had only moved in a few months ago – to meet Rangiku.

Grinning, the strawberry blonde greeted them as Rukia pulled into the garage. “I’ve got the ice cream in the freezer and we’re just waiting for the both of you to turn up.”

As they made their way into the house, Ichigo greeted the white haired coach. “Hi Coach, sorry for all the trouble. Thanks for helping us with this and for letting us have dinner here.”

“Hi Ichigo, Rukia. Don’t worry, it’s not a problem. I was planning for a dinner with Coach Kyouraku anyway and I trust you’ll keep the place neat.” Ukitake smiled as he replied. “When should I be calling Toushirou though?”

“Hmm, I think he should be done with his practice by now.” Rangiku replied, looking at Ichigo for confirmation. As he nodded in reply, she continued, “You can call him now. Remember not to tell him anything else.”

A minute later, the coach put down his phone. “It’s done. I should be off any moment now. Ah, there he is,” Ukitake said as he heard the beep of a familiar horn.

“Thanks coach.” Ichigo called out, turning his head from the stove where there sat a deep pan of boiling oil. Hearing the ‘incoming message’ tone from his phone a moment later, he called out again, “Sorry Rukia, could you help me check my phone?”

“Got it,” the black haired skater replied, before continuing, “Hitsugaya-senpai said he’s going to be late to meet you. I guess that means everything’s in place.”

“Give me a few minutes. I’m almost done.” The orange haired goalkeeper replied, fishing out the last tonkatsu from the oil with a pair of chopsticks and placing it on a piece of tissue with the other pieces of tonkatsu that were done. Picking up the knife, he sliced each piece breadth-wise before placing it on a plate and putting a handful of sliced cabbage and some pickles next to it.

“The rice is scooped, the table’s laid and the rice and curry are there too. It’s just senpai left before we can start. The food smells awesome.” Rangiku said as she helped Ichigo carry the plates of tonkatsu out.

A moment later, Rukia called out, “He’s coming.” From the window in the living room, she had a good view of the street and had no trouble spotting the skater’s distinctive white hair.

“Quick, get into place,” went Rangiku as the trio stood at the doorway, waiting for the skater to open the door.

~~~

Coach Soi Fon had supervised his practice that afternoon and seemed satisfied with his routine. He had finally managed to land the quad toe loop consistently and had incorporated it into his free skate, leading up to the Nationals. It thus came as a surprise to the skater when Coach Ukitake called him to tell him that there was something urgent he needed to speak to him about just as he was packing up and about to meet Ichigo for dinner.

After the call, Toushirou finished packing then messaged the orange haired goalkeeper about being late and made his way back to the house he shared with his coach. It was a relatively new arrangement; his lease to his apartment had expired a few months ago and after Coach Ukitake had heard of it, he had offered to let the skater move in, saying that the rent was after all paid for by their sponsor, Kuchiki Byakuya.

Dusting off his shoes at the door, the skater reached for the door and was surprised to find it locked. _‘That’s weird. Shouldn’t coach be around?’_ Pulling out his keys, he unlocked the door and opened it.

“Surprise! Happy birthday, senpai!” Rangiku shouted as she grabbed him in yet another of her crushing embraces.

“Matsumoto, let go. Where’s Coach Ukitake?” Toushirou asked, cool as usual, despite feeling surprised.

As the blonde let him go, she replied, “We convinced him to help us with your surprise birthday dinner. It’s your eighteenth anyway, so it should be a memorable one.”

“Happy birthday, Hitsugaya-senpai.” Rukia congratulated once Rangiku was done with her explanation.

Nodding in response to Rukia’s greeting, he turned to Ichigo, who was grinning. “Happy eighteenth, Tosh’! You aren’t late for dinner anyway.”

“Hn.” Responding in his typical manner, Toushirou put down his backpack and made his way to the dining room, following behind the orange haired sophomore.

Dinner passed with Rangiku participating in most of the conversation. From asking about how his practice was going, to asking Ichigo how he learnt to cook their dinner, to discussing about shopping with Rukia, and their plans for their winter holidays, the blonde’s cheerfulness kept the conversation flowing. Listening was sufficient for the white haired skater, who learnt amongst other things that Ichigo had learnt how to cook the delicious tonkatsu and curry from his younger sister, Yuzu, and that he had gotten his hospital attachment.

After the dishes were put away, Rangiku demanded in her friendly manner yet again, “Senpai, please close your eyes. We have another surprise. I can cover them for you if you want.”

“No, it’s fine.” Toushirou replied and closed his eyes.

Several moments later, he heard the blonde call out again, “Okay, you can open your eyes now.” When he did, he was greeted by the sight of a green cake with one large candle and eight small candles placed on it.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to senpai, happy birthday to you.” Leading the birthday song, Rangiku’s voice was the loudest amongst the three as they clapped in time with the song. “Now, close your eyes and make a wish, then blow out the candles”

Silently, Toushirou followed Rangiku’s instructions. It had been years since he last celebrated his birthday; the last time had been with his grandmother and his sister. Keeping his mind on the small party instead of recalling old memories, the skater made two wishes in quick succession before blowing out all the candles with a single ‘ _huff_ ’.

After he had made the initial cut of the cake, Rukia took over and divided the cake into half before quartering one half. “Toushirou, what ice cream do you want with this? Rangiku bought er…” Ichigo called out as he took out the Styrofoam box with the ‘Itegumo’ logo out of the freezer and placed it on the table.

“I bought erm… yuzu, vanilla and kokutou,” the blonde continued as she lifted the piece of plastic that covered the ice cream.

“I’ll help myself.”

“Okay then, your turn first senpai, since it’s your birthday.” The blonde replied.

Deciding quickly, the white haired skater took a scoop of the brown sugar ice cream and placed it next to the slice of cake. Bright turquoise eyes sparkled as Toushirou tucked into the ice cream and the macha azuki cake.

“Senpai, how’s the cake? Rukia baked it.” came yet another question from the blonde.

“…Hn. It’s okay.”

“Thank you Hitsugaya-senpai. I’ll leave the other half of the cake in the fridge. You can have it later.” Rukia replied as she picked up the cake and headed for the kitchen.

They took their turns to take some of the ice cream and it was not long before they finished their cake and the ‘take-home-pack’ of ice cream. “It’s time for the final present! It wasn’t easy getting this, senpai.” Rangiku announced gladly as she took out a small Tupperware and a letter.

As the blonde placed both items in front of the skater, Toushirou looked first at the handwriting on the letter and recognised it immediately. _‘It’s granny’s… So does that mean this is…?’_

Opening it immediately, Toushirou recognised the confectionary at once. “It’s amanattou!” Popping one into his mouth immediately, he grinned in delight before opening the letter.

_“Dear Toushirou, it was a surprise to hear about you from your friends. They hoped that I would make some of your favourite amanattou for you for your birthday and it was a delight to make it again. Happy birthday and good luck for your competition! I’ll try to catch it on television and I hope to hear from you soon. Grandma.”_

Unable to contain his happiness, Toushirou turned to thank Rangiku. “Matsumoto… thank you.”

“Nope, don’t just thank me alone. Ichigo planned everything and was the one who told me to try writing to your grandmother to see if she could send over some amanattou.” Rangiku replied with her usual smile.

“… Kurosaki, thank you.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m glad you liked everything.” Ichigo replied, grinning as well.

Savouring another piece of the amanattou before shutting the box and deciding to keep it in the fridge so that he could have them whenever he wanted, Toushirou felt glad that he had decided to take Rangiku’s advice to be open to making some friends. Since Momo had died, he had never felt this happy. _‘Rest assured Momo, I’ll definitely bring him to justice for you,’_ he vowed silently.

Little did he know, things would soon take an unexpected turn for the worse.

~~~

Two days later, Ichigo headed for the rink. He had received a mysterious letter, surprisingly addressed to ‘Toushirou Hitsugaya’ without any address in his letterbox. “Morning, Tosh’, Coach.” Calling out to the white haired duo who were discussing something, Ichigo walked over, letter in hand.

“Kurosaki,” Ukitake smiled, greeting the hockey goalkeeper. “What’s that?” He asked, looking at the pristine white envelope.

“This? I’m not really sure. I got this yesterday but it’s for Toushirou.” Ichigo replied, handing the letter over.

The white haired duo exchanged looks of surprise before the skater took the letter and opened it. Glancing over, Ichigo read its contents aloud. “Stop investigating or bear the consequences.” It was composed of letters torn haphazardly from newspapers then stuck together, arranged to form the crude words.

 _‘What’s going on?’_ Watching as Toushirou and Coach Ukitake exchanged looks that suggested they knew what actually was going on, Ichigo voiced his thoughts. “What’s going on? Can I help? Does Byakuya know?”

“I think you should go. You can practice later.” Ignoring him, the white haired coach told the skater, who nodded in response. He then turned to the goalkeeper, “Kurosaki-kun, don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”

Seeing the skater pick up his backpack, still clutching the note, Ichigo hurried after him. “Toushirou, let me come along.”

“It is not necessary.” The skater replied, sounding colder than usual. “Don’t bother following me,” and continued walking, without the slightest pause.

Stunned, the orange haired sophomore stopped for a brief moment. _‘Why? Don’t you trust me just a bit to let me help you? Could this have anything to do with what Rangiku said? Aizen…?’_ With that, Ichigo decided immediately that he would follow Toushirou to see what exactly was happening. He wanted to help in whatever way he could. _‘Whoever you are, you’re not going to hurt Toushirou, damn it.’_

It was not hard to follow the skater’s tracks in the snow. _‘That idiot, he’s not even paying attention to anyone following him.’_ When Toushirou finally stopped and entered a shop, Ichigo was watching behind a building. After the skater had entered the shop, the orange haired goalkeeper approached the shop cautiously. _‘Urahara and associates eh… I’ll be back.’_

~~~

A few days later, the only thing Ichigo had managed to find out about Urahara and associates was that the lawyer who had acted against Sousuke Aizen on charges of aggravated manslaughter of Momo Hinamori was Kisuke Urahara, proprietor of the said shop. There was little other information that could be gleamed from the Internet.

_‘Rangiku said that Toushirou was spending time investigating Aizen… Where does he get the time apart from college and practice? That shop… doesn’t look like a law firm; is there something else about it?’_

The next day, the white haired skater left early from practice again, and Ichigo decided to tail him to see if he was indeed headed for the same shop. Losing concentration for a moment as his cell phone vibrated and he checked the incoming message, he realised that Toushirou had disappeared when he looked up again.

“Shit!” Cursing, the orange haired sophomore walked out from behind the block and walked forward, hoping to catch a sight of the distinctive white hair. Walking a block down, he did not see any traces of the skater and was making his way back to the previous junction when Toushirou stepped out from a building. _‘Fuck. He knows.’_

“Why were you following me?” The skater’s voice sounded colder than usual.

“I wasn’t following you. I was er…”

“Stop coming up with excuses. There’s no reason why you’d be here,” the skater’s cool tone cutting through his reply, as he gestured to the residential area surrounding them. “Didn’t I say not to follow me?”

“I just wanted to know where you were going. You know I want to help with whatever’s bothering you.” His earnest reply however, failed to convince the skater.

“I told you before. That is not necessary. This is your last warning – don’t follow me.” The skater replied, as he turned and began to walk away.

“Toushirou, look, I’m your friend, I’m concerned for you. So are Rukia and Rangiku; we’re all concerned. Isn’t there anything we can help with?”

“No.”

“At least let me go along with you to wherever you’re headed. At least if anything happens, there’ll be someone else to help you.” Ichigo knew he was pleading, yet at that moment, it did not matter to him already. He _wanted_ to protect Toushirou.

“Kurosaki, I do not need your protection. I am neither a girl nor a child who needs to be protected.” Blazing turquoise eyes met brown ones as the skater spoke.

“But, the note…?”

“The note is a game that he plays.” The cold voice now carried an edge of taunting sarcasm. “Everyone’s his toy, only fit to be played with then discarded. This time, though, he will find himself ensnared.”

“So, you really are investigating.” Ichigo mused aloud. “In that case, why won’t you let me help you? Surely, having another person will help?”

“Kurosaki, I have no idea how you concluded you’d be any help. Once and for all, let me tell you this: I don’t need your protection or your help. While I appreciate your concern, I think it might be misplaced. _You see, Kurosaki, I am not gay._ ”

The cold words stung like a slap in his face as the icy blue-green gaze met faltering brown eyes. _‘He knows… He knows.’_ “…okay. I understand.” Ichigo turned away from the white haired skater, his mind a blur of thoughts.

“Seeya.” Even his usual goodbye sounded devoid of emotion; drained, empty, it seemed fitting for what seemed a final parting.


	6. Conversation

The dull ache had not left him. _‘You really are an idiot.’_ Groggily, Ichigo tapped his alarm clock and headed for the bathroom. It was a Monday and he had a ward round in the morning with Dr Yamada and clinics with Dr Retsu in the afternoon scheduled at the hospital. Splashing water on his face in an attempt to wake up despite his restless night, he changed and headed down for breakfast.

“Morning, Yuzu, Karin.” His smile seemed half-hearted as he tucked into breakfast. After his confrontation with the skater, he had plunged whole heartedly into everything else – his internship at the hospital, practice and helping his father out in their clinic.

“GOOD MORNING, MY DARLING SON! YOU LOOK HANDS-” His father stopped immediately as Ichigo’s fist met his face.

“Morning, Ichi-nii,” chimed Yuzu before she took up a stern tone, “’tou-san, what did I say about fighting at the dining table?”

“I’M SORRY, MY DEAR DAU-” This time, it was Karin who kicked out at her father’s legs from under the table.

Finishing up his breakfast, Ichigo grabbed his messenger bag and headed for the door. “Have a safe trip,” Yuzu called out. “I will. See you later.” The orange haired sophomore replied as he got into the car. He had gotten his license last year and had got his dad to agree to his use of the car to drive to and from the hospital, some distance away from their town.

After an half an hour drive, Ichigo parked the car, then wrapped a muffler around his neck before he strode quickly into the warm hospital. Shedding his coat and muffler at the locker that had been temporarily allocated to him, he grabbed his notebook and headed for Dr Retsu’s office.

A/P Dr Unohana Retsu – Head, Department of Medicine, Senior Consultant, Department of Psychiatry read the sign on her door. Ichigo had been surprised when he first arrived at the hospital for the interview, which had actually been more like a conversation. He had not expected his childish father to have been classmates with such a doctor and it had not helped when his father had joked about it when he had asked about it. At the same time, he was glad to be given the opportunity; Dr Retsu was a nice lady and had even asked another consultant, Dr Yamada, to guide him.

_“Is there any particular speciality you’re interested in? It is early to be considering, but if you do, I can try to arrange for a suitable match.” The gentle voice asked._

_“Not in particular, but I play ice hockey in college, so if there’s any discipline related to sports medicine, it would be fine. A general introduction around the various disciplines would also be fine, since I’m still an undergraduate after all.”_

_“That is settled then. I’ll contact someone from the orthopaedics department. They see a lot of sports injury cases.”_

_“Thank you very much, Dr Retsu.”_ Her reply had been a smile, apparently a smile that she was known for as he found out later.

After being told to return by two for her clinic, Ichigo stopped by the staff canteen for a cup of coffee. It took him almost no time to reach the Orthopaedics wards from the canteen and after greeting the nurses on duty with a smile, Dr Yamada arrived and they began on the daily rounds. The kind and youthful doctor was a relatively new arrival to the hospital and a patient teacher, who explained the unfamiliar medical terms to the orange haired intern without compromising on patient care.

After two weeks at the hospital, it had become routine for Ichigo to have lunch with the orthopaedic surgeon before heading to Dr Retsu’s office for her clinic. A large part of her duties now administrative, the black haired doctor did not see many patients, allowing her to schedule her clinics only in the afternoons.

Reaching her office early, Ichigo sat quietly, reviewing his notes from the earlier ward round before refreshing his memory of the patients the psychiatrist would be seeing. They had appointments at regular intervals and Dr Retsu always wanted to know what he thought after she had seen the patient – she was a strict teacher.

A rap came on the door. “Come in,” came the neutral reply and Ichigo looked up as the nurse spoke, “Dr Retsu, Miss Odelschwanck is here.”

“Thank you. Please see her in. I will be over in a minute.” Shuffling the papers on her desk, it only took her a few moments before the black haired doctor stood up and opened the door that led to the adjacent consultation room. Ichigo followed and seated himself in the chair behind hers silently as she greeted the green haired lady in the room.

 _‘Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. I’m almost sure this is the person I’m looking for.’_ Following that thought, Ichigo turned his concentration to the consultation. After the girl left, it was his turn to be questioned by the doctor and he listened and took notes on the subsequent short lecture on the manifestation and treatment of anxiety disorders before the next patient was admitted.

In this way, his afternoon passed and when the clinic was finished at around a quarter to six, he thanked Dr Retsu and headed for the lockers. Walking past the waiting area, he spotted the familiar green hair of the doctor’s earlier patient. As their eyes met, Nelliel waved cheerfully to him, not outwardly displaying any signs of the anxiety disorder, coupled with amnesia and personality regression, she had been diagnosed with.

“Hi Itsygo!”

“Hi Nell, still waiting for Pesche?”

“Yep!” The girl replied eagerly, sounding more like an excited child than her actual twenty years.

“Do you want to have a drink? You must be thirsty.”

“Yay!” Nelliel jumped up from the seat, bouncing as she followed the orange haired intern to the drinks machines. Reaching the automated machines, she pointed at a particularly sweet beverage, “I want this.”

“Okay.” Ichigo slotted some coins in and pressed for it, presenting it to the girl once it was done.

“Thank you, Itsygo” came the cheerful reply.

“You’re welcome.” Ichigo smiled, momentarily forgetting about Toushirou and pressed the button for a cup of coke. Picking up the cup, he drank as he watched the girl look around the corridor, grinning happily.

“Pesche’s here!” Nelliel waved enthusiastically at the blonde man as he made his way over.

“Dr Kurosaki, thank you for looking after Nell.”

“No worries and I’m not a doctor, just an intern. Just call me Ichigo.” It was the second time he met one of Nell’s friends and guardians and he was glad that the girl had such good friends.

“We’ll be off then. Thank you.” Pesche replied.

“Bye, Itsygo!” The girl called and waved before she walked off, engaging the shorter blonde in animated conversation.

“Bye, Nell, Pesche.” Ichigo replied, before heading out the lockers. Grabbing his stuff, he headed out to the car park and his drive home. As he drove, he recalled his encounter at Urahara and associates a week ago.

 _With the chant_ ‘This is just for a friend’ _running through his mind, Ichigo pushed open the door that led into the small shop. Before his eyes could adjust to the dimmer lighting within, he heard someone call out, “Mr Ichigo Kurosaki, what can I do for you?”_

_As his eyes grew accustomed to the surroundings, he immediately recognised the speaker. “You’re… Kisuke Urahara. How do you know about me?”_

_“I’m Mr Toushirou Hitsugaya’s attorney.”_

_“So this is a law firm and some sort of detective agency? I know Toushirou’s investigating something about Sousuke Aizen and Momo Hinamori and that’s why he got that note.” Ichigo responded, seeing no need to conceal what he knew, almost certain he had made the right connections._

_“Unfortunately, due to client privacy, I am unable to tell you anything about my cilent’s case. However, you are right in saying that we do carry out some investigations as well. My lovely partner, Yoruichi, does the sleuthing. Is there anything I can help you with then?” The blonde lawyer waved a fan over his face as he replied._

_“Is there anything I can do to help with the investigation?” Ichigo demanded._

_“My, my, so eager,” Urahara replied before shutting the fan with a snap. “You know I can’t tell you anything about the case… but… we happen to be looking for a particular informant at the moment – one with access to a particular hospital.”_

_“How did you know I’m interning in a hospital now?”_

_“My boy, this is a detective agency. Now, are you willing to help out?”_

_Ichigo thought for a moment before replying, “Not if I have to break patient confidentiality or do something under-handed.”_

_“Don’t worry,” the lawyer unfurled the paper fan again before continuing, “We suspect one of Aizen’s former students is seeing a doctor at the hospital you’re at. We aren’t sure if it is the correct person, so we need someone with inside information to see if she is indeed related to Aizen and going in and out of the hospital due to something related to him._

_I need witnesses for the case, but I don’t need to know what’s wrong or right with her now. If she really is helpful to the case based on what you report, we will then approach her. She won’t even know you were involved.”_

_Watching as Ichigo hesitantly nodded his head, the blonde continued, “This is the latest picture we have. We only know that she was known as ‘Nel Tu’ when she was skating.”_

_The orange haired sophomore glanced down at the slightly blurred picture on the table that captured a smiling green haired skater. Memorising her features, Ichigo then turned to the lawyer, “Don’t tell Toushirou that I was here.”_

_“Of course not. I hope to hear good news from you.” That had been the last he heard from the weird blonde lawyer as he left the shop._

Pulling into their driveway, Ichigo deftly sidestepped his father and landed a kick on his back as he got out of the car. “MY DARLING ICHI-” Calling out, “Yuzu, I’m back,” as he entered the house, he caught a whiff of dinner. “It smells delicious.”

“Ichi-nii, I’m glad you like it. It’s almost done.” The smaller girl replied.

“I’ll go dump my stuff upstairs first then.” Ichigo said, before climbing the stairs. _‘If she’s the correct one and she did forget about Aizen, what are my chances?’_

~~~

The next day found Ichigo and the team practicing at the rink. Instead of regular season games, they were currently competing for the Vizard Cup. In order to showcase excellent ice hockey teams, some rich businessman had sponsored the winter competition that featured the top four seeds from the previous season’s championship. It was rare for all the top four seeds to feature in the Frozen Four and by including top teams in its line up, the Vizard Cup offered a tantalising glimpse of the potential championship matchups for the season.

The Shinou Shinigami had beaten the previously fourth seeded Bount Crusaders at home 6-1 last week. Playing off in a round robin, they were up against the previous second seeds Rukongai Raiders at home on Saturday and were practising for the upcoming game. Even though the Raiders had lost to the Arrancar 5-0 the previous week, they were still ranked top in their conference and Ichigo and his team were not taking them lightly.

Concentrating on their practice, Ichigo was hardly distracted. Renji had picked up that something was wrong at the orange haired goalkeeper’s earlier greeting and when he spotted Ichigo glancing into the stands as if searching for something or someone, he knew he was right.

Exchanging silent glances with Chad, who seemed to have picked up on Ichigo’s mood as well, the redhead decided on the spot that it was time for after dinner drinks with the orange haired goalkeeper.

As they trudged off to the locker rooms after an exhausting practice, Shuuhei asked aloud if any of them were having dinner. Before Ichigo could reply, he heard Renji call out, “Not today. Me and Ichi are going for dinner and drinks. He owes me a dinner.”

Turning to look at Renji, Ichigo was just about to ask the redhead when he owed him a dinner, when he caught sight of the look in his eyes. _‘Something’s up with Byakuya again?’_ He wondered before replying, “Yep, sorry guys. Maybe next time.”

After their showers, the pair bid their teammates goodbye before heading out of the rink. “So Ichi, where do ya wanna go for dinner?”

“I don’t remember owing you a meal,” the goalkeeper replied.

“Yep yep. That was just an excuse. You getta decide where we eat in exchange. ”

“Okay then, we’ll have Italian today.”

“That pasta place three blocks down? I’ll race you, come on. The loser has to buy the winner a drink.”

Laughing, the duo raced down the pavement, reaching the Italian eatery at almost the same time. Panting as they stood outside, Ichigo grinned in triumph. “Ren, drinks tonight are on you.”

“Bastard… I said only one.” Renji replied, still breathing heavily.

“Nope, the winner sets the rules.”

“Asshole, I’m not falling for that.” Renji punched Ichigo in the arm as they entered the shop. Finding a relatively secluded seat, they settled in and placed their orders.

“So Ren, what wrong this time?” Ichigo asked.

“Me?” The redhead asked. “It’s not about me this time. Ichi, fess up. What’s wrong between you and that icicle of yours?”

“There’s nothing wrong, and he’s not an icicle.”

Renji did not miss the glimmer of hurt that travelled through the brown eyes though. “C’mon, fess up Ichi. There’s definitely something wrong. You haven’t been meeting him recently.”

Catching the moment of surprise reflected in the orange haired goalkeeper’s eyes, the redhead continued, “So, what exactly did the both of you argue about?”

“Ren, stop being psychic.” Ichigo replied, breaking out into a reluctant smile. “I just don’t really feel like talking about it now.” _‘I am not gay.’_ Toushirou’s words echoed in his mind.

“Well, how about you tell me why you threatened to tell Byakuya about that from way back since we haven’t properly caught up since?” Renji asked.

Thankfully, the pastas arrived then and Ichigo pointed to the food, “Food first, talk later. I bet you’re hungry too.” Voicing no objection, Renji tucked into his food, with Ichigo following suit. Finishing their dinner, Ichigo finally replied as he took a sip of the water.

“That time, I was worried that he’d find out that I had this crush on him. I didn’t really think about it, but I probably really liked him then. Now… on hindsight, it seems that I shouldn’t have.” Ichigo sighed.

“Stop thinking so much then. Let’s settle this and go for drinks. I owe you one.”

After settling their bills, they headed for a pub nearby they frequented and took a table some distance away from the bar. “Beer for you, Ichi?” As the goalkeeper nodded, arranging his bag on the seat, Renji called out to the waitress, “Two beers please.”

Just then, the ring tone on his phone went off. “It’s Byakuya, gimme a minute.”

“Hey, I’m out with Ichi… You’re busy tomorrow? ... Hmm, the match’s on Saturday, dinner on Sunday then? ... Okay, seeya. Love ya.” Blushing slightly as he ended the call, the redhead saw Ichigo smirking at him.

“Public love declarations now eh, Ren?” Ichigo teased.

“Shut up, bastard. You do know that he’s still somewhat jealous of ya, ya know?”

“There’s nothing much of me to be jealous about. I can’t believe I did the same stupid thing twice.”

“You mean…?”

“Yeah, I quarrelled with Toushirou then somewhere in the middle, I confessed to him, and guess what. He said, _‘I am not gay.’_ I guess I have really bad taste.” Lifting the bottle to his lips, Ichigo drained the rest of the bottle before calling for another bottle.

“That bastard.” Renji snarled, feeling angry for Ichigo.

Even though they had only met in college and had started out arguing at their very first meeting, they had clicked soon after, becoming the best of friends. Well, actually ‘friends-with-benefits’, once they had known the other was gay as well. That was what had made Byakuya jealous. It was no surprise to Ichigo that the young businessman was very possessive. It had also been then that Renji had heard about Ichigo’s one and only failed relationship in senior high.

“Nah, Ren, it’s fine. It’s not going to turn out like what happened back then. I’m the idiot after all. Bitten once, and I let myself get bitten again.”

“Well, if it does, I’m going to fucking beat him up.”

“You won’t need to. I trust him.” _‘I trust him? Yeah, I do. He is that mature after all.’_ Somewhere inside him though came another voice that went, _‘Didn’t you see the look in his eyes? He might still like you.’_ Ignoring it, Ichigo downed another mouthful of beer and called for another two bottles, seeing Renji’s empty as well.

“Whatever. Ya know, Ichi, you’re not the one at fault. You’re just unlucky. Here’s to finding a better boyfriend.” Renji reached for his new bottle of beer and clinked it to the goalkeeper’s in a toast.

“Well, I think I’ve had enough boyfriends for the meantime. I’ll think about it again after this blows over.”

“You don’t need ta think that much. You’ve got a damn hot body and you’re damn cute. If not for Byakuya, I might just be fucking you later.” Renji replied, obviously joking.

“You better hope Byakuya doesn’t hear of this, otherwise there won’t just be one thing you need to keep from him.”

“Byakuya knows that I spout rubbish. He likes it.” Renji said, smirk on his face.

“You’re joking.”

“No, I’m not. Anyway, you need ta stop thinking about Hitsugaya-senpai. We’ve got games for that cup thing coming up. You shouldn’t be gettin’ distracted.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m trying, but it’s not that easy, ya know? Not when I was head-over-heels for him.” Ichigo replied. The voice in his mind had another answer though, _‘You still are, stop denying it.’_ Deciding to steer the conversation to another topic, the goalkeeper asked, “So how’s it going with Byakuya? He’s still got that stick up his ass?”

“Byakuya? Byakuya’s fine. The only stick up his ass is mine anyway. He’s probably still jealous of ya and he really isn’t much different from that icicle of yours anyway.”

“He’s not an icicle.”

“Oh really? He always does that to you.” In his best imitation of the white haired skater’s cool tone, Renji continued, “Kurosaki, how many times do I need to tell you to call me Hitsugaya?”

Ichigo laughed out loud, amazed that the redhead actually sounded like the skater. The laughter and alcohol dulled his feelings over the break-up and that night, he crashed at Renji’s apartment, thankful for his company.

~~~

The week after, they played their final round robin game away in California against the Los Noches Arrancar. Having won their match against the Rukongai Raiders 4-0 in yet another shut out for Ichigo, they went into their final game without any stress, having already qualified. Yet they were equally determined to win; the Arrancar were also their conference leaders and it was a match up of unbeaten streaks.

Despite the mid-game scuffle after the Arrancar’s number six had provoked the Shinigami’s number fifteen goalkeeper by yelling “Faggot!”, the Shinou Shinigami edged the Arrancar 3-2, ensuring that they would meet in the Vizard Cup finals, in a repeat of the previous year’s Frozen Four finals.


	7. Discoveries

The day before the Vizard Cup finals, Ichigo headed to the hospital as usual. Following the ward rounds that he had grown accustomed to, with Dr Yamada, they had a light-hearted lunch before the orange haired intern made his way to Dr Retsu’s office. Surprisingly, Nelliel had missed her appointment on Monday and was coming in today instead.

While he had made progress in making friends with the green haired girl, Ichigo had not made much progress in determining if she would be useful to the case. The one time he had mentioned Aizen casually the previous week, it had brought on an attack that had taken Dr Retsu a few hours to calm Nelliel down.

It seemed to confirm that her attacks were possibly related to Aizen. However, Ichigo had serious doubts if any testimony from the former skater would be useful, considering her amnesia had seemed to block out any events in her past that had to do with figure skating.

That day though, neither of Nelliel’s friends had appeared by six. His clinic with Dr Retsu had ended about half an hour ago and he had entertained Nelliel since. Just as Ichigo was considering whether to ask Dr Retsu what they could do for her, she appeared in front of the both of them.

“Nelliel, Pesche and Dondochakka are busy. Should I call for a cab or do you want to wait here for them?” The doctor asked kindly. Nelliel’s guardians had always insisted that the girl be accompanied everywhere she went. While the psychiatrist saw no specific necessity for it, she did not see any need to go against their wishes – after all, she had not been able to identify all the triggers to the girl’s occasional anxiety attacks.

“Er… Dr Retsu, I think I’ll wait for them here.” The green haired girl replied, looking slightly nervous.

“Actually, Dr Retsu, would it be possible for me to bring her to her house instead? She just needs an escort right?” Ichigo volunteered, deciding to take the opportunity to see if there would be anything in Nell’s house that might be useful.

“Kurosaki… That might work. Are you sure it won’t be any trouble?”

“Nope,” he replied before turning to the girl and asking, “Nell, do you want me to bring you home? You know the way right?”

“Of course I do. Nell has the key too,” the girl took out a silver key from a pocket on her dress and brandished it in front of the intern. “Itsygo can take me home. Thank you Dr Retsu.” Bouncing to her feet, she tugged at Ichigo’s arm. “Let’s go, Itsygo. There’s nice food at home.”

“Okay, okay. Give me a moment.” Ichigo replied before taking out his phone. Pressing a few buttons, he spoke, “Hi Yuzu, I’m going to be a little late for dinner. … Nah, you can go ahead. I’ll be back as soon as I can. … Okay, bye.” With that settled, he followed beside the green haired girl as they made their way out of the hospital.

“So Nell, where do you stay?” Ichigo asked, surprised that she had insisted on walking, even when he told her he could drive her home.

“It’s not too far. Nell stays about… four blocks away from the hospital in an apartment with Pesche and Dondochakka.” The green haired girl replied, still grinning. “Where does Itsygo stay?”

“Oh I stay in the next town. I have to drive to the hospital every day.” Ichigo smiled as he replied.

“Okay. Maybe someday Nell can go visit Itsygo. Nell has not had a holiday in a long time.” As the girl began humming to herself while prancing down the pavement, Ichigo found himself keeping closer to the girl.

Two blocks from the hospital, Nelliel had taken a turn and Ichigo had found them walking into a less well maintained part of the city. _‘They must be really working hard to pay for her hospital fees.’_ Ichigo followed as the green haired girl took yet another turn before pointing out. “There! That brown building, see Itsygo? That’s where I stay.”

“Okay.” Ichigo replied as they turned into a smaller, darker alley. _‘I have an uneasy feeling about this.’_ Just as Nelliel was about to turn into a small street that led to the entrance of the building, someone suddenly grabbed her from the shadows.

“Let go of her.” Ichigo demanded, taking two steps forward and seeing a masked tall man carrying a stick, grabbing the girl’s arm firmly.

“She still has a protector today? Bah, I just need to settle her,” came a reedy-thin voice. Reaching out with the L-shaped stick that rested on his shoulder, he raised it and brought it down on the girl.

Ichigo immediately dashed out, hitting the assailant with his full body weight. Having trained in karate when he had been younger, he knew some tactics in street fighting despite not having fought before. “Run Nell!” He shouted, before turning and realising that the girl was cowering on the ground, seeming to be in midst of an attack.

“Shit!” He cursed before turning and noticing the tall man seemed to have made him a target instead as he narrowly dodged a blow.

“Don’t turn away from your enemy in battle. Never heard of that, boy?” The tall man joked as he reached out with the hooked stick, aiming a blow at the sophomore’s legs, then another at his torso.

“Fuck!” Ichigo swore as the second blow hit him squarely in the chest, even though he avoided the first. _‘I need a weapon. I’m not going to be able to get near him and Nell can’t run now.’_ Looking around, he spotted what looked like a broomstick in a corner and darted over, grasping it tightly.

“So now you’re armed. You think that’s going to be any use, kid?” The tall guy continued with, unleashing a barrage of blows aimed to injure and maim.

Snarling, Ichigo blocked the blows as well as he could, not used to fighting with a weapon. “Nell, wake up! Nell!”

“You should stop worrying about her, kid. You’re both in trouble.” Stepping forward, the masked assailant swung out violently but methodically – his second last blow breaking the slender broomstick.

Before Ichigo could even react, he felt the stick connect with his abdomen, throwing him against the wall. “Sh-!” Gasping as he thudded against the brick and concrete, the orange haired intern watched as the tall man with black shoulder length hair approached Nelliel. “Nelliel, get up and run!”

He almost thought he heard a dazed “Itsygo?” before seeing the man bring the stick down on her prone body. Adrenaline surging through his system, Ichigo staggered to his feet and headed towards the man, only to feel a fist connecting with his face.

“It’s her turn first. The boss said to get rid of her. Someone’s been asking too many questions. I can play with you later.” Lifting a foot, he brought it down heavily on the girl’s body, producing something that sounded like a ‘ _crunch_ ’.

A piercing scream filled the air before Ichigo joined in, shouting, “Help! Please help! Call the police!”

“Why you… little fucker! I suppose I need to shut you up first.” The tall man kicked out at the limp body of the girl before turning and bringing down the stick on the goalkeeper’s head.

Instinctively raising his arm to block the block, Ichigo winced as he heard a ‘ _snap_ ’, before pain coursed through his system. Already tasting the coppery tang of blood on his tongue from the earlier blow, Ichigo bit back the pain, and readied himself for another blow. Just then, he caught sight of the girl climbing to her feet unsteadily and shouted, “Nell, quick run!”

Turning for a moment, the tall man saw the same thing. When he turned back to Ichigo, he found the goalkeeper grabbing onto the stick he was holding. “Damnit, you’re not getting away.” Kicking out at the boy, foot landing right in his abdomen, he turned to chase after the girl.

As Ichigo collided with the wall, head first, pain overtook his senses as he landed with a ‘ _thud_ ’ on the road. Eyes rapidly blurring, he thought he saw several other figures in the distance before darkness overtook him.

~~~

As the music played in the rink, Toushirou ran through his free skate routine for what seemed the umpteenth time. The Nationals were almost a week away, yet somehow his quadruple toe loop had come undone again.

Wrapping up the routine as he completed the final spin, the white haired skater made a round on the ice before heading to the rest area. Nodding to Rukia as she skated onto the ice for her warm up, he sat down and mentally reviewed his performance.

“Shirou,” came Ukitake’s warm voice, “Is something distracting you?”

“No. There’s nothing wrong, Coach.” Despite his reply, his eyes still unconsciously darted to the stands, as if searching for bright orange amongst the dull bleachers.

“You know, it wouldn’t have been a problem if you told him about it.” Ukitake continued, sitting down next to the skater.

“There was no need for him to know.” The reply came, a notch colder than the previous.

“Well… it might have. I’m just concerned.”

“Don’t worry, Coach Ukitake. I will definitely do my best during the Nationals next week.” With that, Toushirou stood and walked over to his bag. Taking out his iPod, he placed the earphones into his ears and sat down, listening to the music for his routines yet again.

Ukitake sighed as he glanced over at the skater, before turning his attention back to the black haired figure on the ice.

Immersed in his music, one main thought ran through Toushirou’s mind. _‘I just need to focus and concentrate. Focus and concentrate. Why’s he…’_ As the music played on, his mind drifted back to the conversation he had with Rangiku a few weeks ago.

_“Senpai.” Rangiku’s voice sounded serious this time as she walked over. She had arranged to meet him at the rink before his practice, so it was just the two of them. “I know you like Ichigo. Did you have to reject him so cruelly? I heard about it from Renji. Do you know how miserable he’s feeling now?”_

_Toushirou sat there unmoving, expression firmly neutral. He knew he had to. He did not want the orange haired hockey player to be involved in his personal feud._

_“Senpai, are you paying attention? I mean, even if you really didn’t like him, you didn’t him to tell him in that way. For a while, I thought you were getting over Momo, getting over the whole revenge thing and Aizen._

_Do you even realise how much he got you to open up? You never smiled since Momo died. After you warmed up with Ichigo, you even agreed to celebrate your birthday. Before that, I hardly even saw you eat with anyone. It’s not good to stay all alone by yourself. You know you should consider Ichi-”_

_Cutting through the blonde’s rambling, Toushirou finally replied, voice icy cold. “Matsumoto. You don’t know everything, so don’t judge me based on what you’ve heard. Ichigo was a bother and I’m thankful he’s gone now.”_

_Watching her surprised expression, he continued. “I guess you must have told him that I won’t be interested. That means it’s all his fault. I have to practice my routine. Is there anything else?” Seeing no response, he ended off with an “I’m off then,” before putting on his earphones and heading onto the ice._

_That night, unable to get to sleep, thoughts filled his mind._ ‘I’m not gay but Kurosaki… I guess it was good to have had him as a friend. Aizen is dangerous and I’ll only feel guiltier if I dragged him in. I couldn’t protect Momo already…

Kurosaki… What exactly do I feel for him? It’s probably just friendship I guess… It’s not same with Rangiku though, so does that mean…? Stop thinking about it. It is irrelevant. I need to focus on the competition so that I can enter the world of elite skating again. From there, it should be easier to find evidence related to all the things he’s been doing behind the scenes.

Momo, I’ll definitely obtain justice for you.’ _In spite of that single-minded thought that he concentrated on, he still settled into a dreamless sleep with a tinge of guilt._

“Senpai, something bad happened!” Rangiku’s voice was loud enough that he could hear it in spite of his earphones.

Taking off his earphones as the blonde ran up to him, distraught and worried, even her expression could not have prepared him for her subsequent announcement.

“They found Ichigo not long ago. He was walking a patient back to her house when they were both attacked. They’re both in the hospital; Renji said that Ichigo’s in surgery now.”

By the time she was done, Rukia was off the ice and pulling off her skates. She calmly asked, looking at them, “Who’s going down? I’ll drive.”

In the end, he had been dragged along by Rangiku, who along with Coach Ukitake, had taken Rukia’s Beetle to the hospital. Once they reached the hospital, Rangiku had called Renji and found out that the surgery was done and that Ichigo had been admitted to one of the ICU (Intensive-care unit) wards.

After asking a nurse for directions, the group of them rushed over. Seeing a group of hockey players outside the room, the blonde immediately spotted the redhead and asked, “How’s Ichigo?”

Looking obviously worried, Renji replied, “The doctor said he broke his arm, had a concussion and probably sprained a few ribs. They put him under anaesthesia in order to fix the fracture, so they’re waiting for it to wear off to examine him. They did a few scans but everything seemed alright. The fracture was clean, so hopefully it’ll heal up quickly.”

“Hey Coach, Rukia.” Renji called out after answering the question, spotting the group the blonde had brought along.

Knowing that he had obviously been ignored, Toushirou continued listening as the redhead spoke, sounding disappointed. “I guess that puts him out for the rest of the season, coach. We were hoping to play at the Frozen Four again. Oh and tomorrow’s game…”

“We also contacted Coach Kyouraku and Coach Ise. They should be on their way now.” Shuuhei informed the white haired coach.

“Renji, what about the girl you said he was with?” Rangiku asked.

“Her? She got beaten up more badly but she’s out from surgery too. She’s a patient here that Ichi knows. Apparently, she’s also a former skater that Ichi made friends with.”

 _‘Former skater?’_ Toushirou wondered as points began connecting in his mind. He waited until the orange haired goalkeeper awoke and heard the doctor say that some visitors could see him before he left silently.

~~~

He did not remember much from the first time he had woken up. The only things he recalled were bright lights shining into his eyes and loud voices. The second time he woke up, everything came back in a flood. Opening his eyes, he called out immediately, “Nelliel!”

“Ichi, relax. She’s fine.” A warm hand patted his shoulder as Ichigo’s gaze darted from the sterile white ceiling above to the redhead sitting next to his bed.

Struggling to sit up, the next thing he noticed was the heavy sensation on his left arm. Pushing away the blanket that covered it, he spotted the white cast on his left forearm. _‘Shit. How am I supposed to play for the rest of the season?’_ Finally managing to sit up with Renji’s assistance, Ichigo asked, “Renji, how long have I been out?”

“More than a day, I guess. We erm… lost the final match.” Seeing the orange haired goalkeeper’s expression change, Renji immediately continued, “It’s not your fault.”

“Damn right it’s not my fault! _We fucking beat them at their home ground._ ” Ichigo growled, bringing his right hand down on the bed. “Look at me now. I guess I’m out for the rest of the season.” Sounding suddenly subdued, he looked at the redhead for confirmation.

“Well, the doctor said that depended on how fast you heal. You might be able to play with us for the Frozen Four if you’re recovered by then.”

“Ren, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not, idiot. The doctor said you might take around two to three months to fully recover, depending on how fast you heal up. So just focus on healing.” Renji replied, sounding confident. “Anyway, what exactly happened with the girl?”

“I’m not exactly sure. I was bringing her home because her friends weren’t around. Then this tall guy came out of nowhere, saying he was supposed to do her in or something. There’s no way I could just leave like that.”

“Ha. Ya brave bastard!” Renji exclaimed before looking down at his watch. “Shit, I’m going to be late. There’s a post-match review meeting later. Your dad and sisters, and Rukia are supposed to drop by later. I’ll see if I can get the guys to come later. They’ll be glad to hear you’re awake.”

Standing and getting ready to leave, the redhead suddenly turned and pointed out the book that lay on the side table. “Yuzu brought one of your books yesterday while you were out. You can read it if you’re bored.

Oh, and something funny happened yesterday. You know the Arrancar’s coach, Gin Ichimaru, the one with the creepy smile? He passed me a thumbdrive after the match down in the locker rooms. He said, I quote him, “Kurosaki’s out eh? This is ta make up for ta pain.” The drive’s on the book. I’m off.”

“Seeya, Ren.” Ichigo called out. _‘Thumbdrive? Gin Ichimaru? Frozen Four? I wonder what Dr Yamada would think of my chances of recovery?’_ Shelving thoughts about the mysterious thumbdrive although he kept it away safely, Ichigo began making some brief plans about a possible return at the end of the season. After that, he picked up the book, the one he had been reading halfway, and opening it to a new chapter, he began reading.

~~~

The following night, Ichigo had a visitor he had not expected. Just as he was about to start on a book after dinner, there came a knock on the door and it opened to reveal a white haired figure.

“Toushirou?” Ichigo said, surprised.

Without replying to the question, the white haired skater strode to the bed before speaking. “Kurosaki, you really are an idiot.”

 _‘What?!’_ “Hitsugaya-senpai, I would appreciate it if you could avoid disturbing my rest.” Ichigo put down the book and lay down on the bed, turning away from the skater and pretending to fall asleep.

Silence followed.

Moments later, he heard the skater mumble, “I’m sorry.” _‘He’s sorry? Sorry for what?’_ He fumed silently, still irritated.

“I’m sorry for putting you in danger. I spoke to Urahara after you were admitted.” The skater continued, voice surprisingly neutral. A long pause followed and Ichigo resisted moving, wondering what else the skater had to say.

“Bye Ichigo. Thank you. I won’t be bothering you again.”

Hearing soft footsteps, Ichigo struggled to sit up and called out, “If you’re really sorry, give me a proper explanation to why you didn’t want my help. I know you were going after Aizen and I’m guessing Aizen was behind this as well.”

A look of shock on his face as he turned around, Ichigo’s brown eyes squarely met Toushirou’s wide turquoise ones. “I said I didn’t help because I didn’t want you involved. Aizen is dangerous; you just felt that first hand.” The skater replied coolly after a pause.

“I said it was fine, didn’t I? What if this happened to you?” Ichigo responded, still scowling.

“It’s fine if it’s me. I’m the one who’s trying to get back at him. I shouldn’t be getting other people involved. I couldn’t protect Momo already,” the skater’s voice getting louder as he spoke.

 _‘He’s still feeling guilty?’_ “I volunteered for it. It’s not your fault. You have to let your friends help sometimes.”

“But what if something happens?”

“No one can predict what might happen. You know,” Ichigo replied with a sad smile on his face. “My name’s supposed to mean ‘he who protects’. My mum died in a car accident when I was nine; she was trying to protect me. I cried for ages back then. It’s time to stop feeling guilty, Toushirou.”

Yet another look of surprise crossed the skater’s face before he turned away from the goalkeeper. “…Thank you.”

“I guess this means we’re still friends then, Tosh’.” Grinning, Ichigo called out from his bed.

“…Hn.”

Just then, the nurse came around. “I’m sorry, but the visiting hours are almost up,” she said, opening the door.

“Oh, okay.” Toushirou replied. After the nurse had continued onto the next room, the skater continued, a trace of amusement in his voice. “Anyway, Kurosaki, there’s something else I wanted to tell you. I’m bi. Good night.”

This time, it was Ichigo who stared, eyes wide, as the skater left the room without turning his head once. _‘What?!’_


	8. Achievements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are very brief mentions of NON-CON/blackmail (hetero) pornography in this chapter. Please skip the italicised portion in the first part if you don't want to read about it.

Barely two days later, and after a series of last minute arrangements, Toushirou flew down south to Greensboro for the Nationals, accompanied by Ichigo. Even though the orange haired goalkeeper had been discharged the morning following the skater’s visit, there had been many things to settle after Ichigo agreed to Toushirou’s text on being his minder during the competition.

Reaching the city in the evening, the pair headed immediately to their hotel from the airport. Following an early dinner and a quick walk to the Coliseum where the competition was to be held, they settled in for the night.

Waking early the next morning, they squabbled briefly before heading to the rink. Ichigo had insisted on carrying Toushirou’s skates with his uninjured arm and the skater had eventually given in. After the skater had practiced his short programme, getting used to the rink, the pair took a brief walk around the town centre, had lunch, before returning to the Coliseum to support Rukia.

Stepping into the stands, they looked around for good seats before the skater heard a familiar voice call out, “Senpai!” Turning, the pair spotted the blonde waving in the distance and headed over.

“Hi Rangiku.” Ichigo greeted the blonde before spotting her partner. “Yumi?”

“Kurosaki,” The black haired art major replied. “I came with Rangiku to support Rukia. As you know, ice skating is beautiful, unlike that brutal sport you play. Oh the elegance when the skater leaps into the air…”

Meanwhile, Rangiku had the white haired skater pressed between her arms and chest yet again. “I see you made up with Ichigo. That’s great.” She smiled cheerfully, letting go of the skater.

“Hn.” came Toushirou’s usual reply, only to be surprised when the blonde turned to the orange haired goalkeeper. “Ichigo! It’s great you made up with senpai. So tell me, how did you do it? Was it a _kiss-and-make-up_ thing?”

Blushing furiously, the goalkeeper looked almost shocked at the question. Even Toushirou evaded the blonde’s gaze when he replied instead, cheeks turning slightly pink. “Matsumoto! That is enough. We don’t kiss and tell.”

The blonde reached out to pinch the skater’s cheeks. “Aww… Senpai, you’re so cute!”

“Matsumoto!” Turquoise eyes glared at her before the skater sat down a seat away from the blonde, leaving Ichigo to take the seat between him and the blonde.

The competition started soon after. Having agreed to Shuuhei’s request to write an article about the Nationals despite it not being a collegiate competition, Ichigo took out his notepad and pen and began taking notes on the competitors.

As he had expected, the level of competition at the Nationals was much higher than what he had seen at the collegiate championships. After a blue haired skater had been awarded the highest score for her short programme, the next competitor caught the goalkeeper’s eyes.

Turning to tap on the white haired skater’s shoulder, he whispered as the skater removed one of his earphones, “Isn’t that the girl in the photos?” Pointing to the busty blonde skater warming up on the ice, the pair recalled their trip to Urahara’s shop amidst the hustle and bustle of the previous few days.

_“Looks like things are fine between the two of you now.” That was Urahara’s first sentence when they entered the shop together. Unfurling his fan as brown and turquoise glared at him in unison, he asked in his usual light hearted tone, “So what can I do for you today?”_

_Pulling out the thumbdrive from a pocket, Ichigo replied, “Someone passed this to us. We want you to take a look at it. We haven’t opened it yet.”_

_“My, my, I wonder what’s inside.” Waving the fan over his face, the lawyer inserted it into the laptop in front of him and ran a quick scan on it, ensuring that it was probably virus-free before opening the contents._

_“Oh my! Yoruichi!” The blonde called out as the first file he opened displayed itself on the screen._

_The two teenagers quickly averted their eyes from the screen after taking a brief look. Displayed across the full screen was a nude photo of a girl, taken as she writhed in what seemed to be ecstasy, with a plastic object sticking out from between her legs._

__‘Oh fuck! That’s Nell.’ _As the tanned detective entered the room, long purple hair swaying behind her in a ponytail, Ichigo noticed her playful expression turn serious immediately when she caught sight of the photo._

_“Where did you boys get this?” The detective asked curiously after scrolling through the pictures stored in the thumbdrive._

_“One of my teammates passed it to me when I was in the hospital. He said Gin Ichimaru had passed it to him and said something like ‘it was to make up for the pain’.” Ichigo replied._

_“Hmm…?” The detective’s eyebrows knotted briefly before she spoke again, still serious. “Well, we’ve just got some proof that Aizen’s been doing stuff to some of his skaters and hockey players. I’m sorry, Hitsugaya, but Hinamori’s pictures are inside as well.”_

_As Toushirou’s expression changed, trembling in anger, Ichigo placed his arm comfortingly on the skater’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, hoping to calm the skater down._

_“Anyway, we’ll look through this and back this up. This isn’t enough proof though, since Aizen’s obviously smart enough not to appear in the pictures.” The purple haired detective continued, “There might be someone who could help though. See this girl? I think she’s one of Aizen’s skaters now.”_

_The two teenagers looked once more at the laptop, trying only to take in the features of the confused looking nude blonde posing wantonly on the screen, before turning away again._

_“You might want to try to contact her discreetly. If she’s willing to testify against him, it would help greatly with our case.”_

The announcement came, seeming to verify that the blonde on the ice was indeed the girl they were looking for. “On the ice now, we have number thirteen, Tia Harribel. Coached by Sousuke Aizen, and runner-up at last year’s Nationals, she will be skating to Monti’s Csárdás.”

“Hn… I’ll try to get her backstage then.” Ichigo smiled at Toushirou’s reply, glad that the skater had decided to confide in him. He then turned his attention back to the rink, watching as she cleanly landed a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination. It was no surprise that her score, announced a few minutes later, placed her on top of the field.

Two skaters later, it was Rukia’s turn. “Number sixteen, Rukia Kuchiki, coached by Juushirou Ukitake. Narrowly missing out on the podium last year, she will be skating to Saint-Saens’ Le Cygne.” Ichigo watched as the black haired skater landed all her jumps cleanly, clapping along with his companions every time.

The judges thought it was a good routine as well, giving her a score of 63.76, ranking her third out of all the skaters who had competed. After the last seven skaters finished their routines, the announcement came yet again with a wrap up of the day’s scores. “This marks the end of the senior ladies’ short programme. The competition order for the free skate on Saturday will be in the inverse order of these rankings. The rankings are as follows: In first place, Tia Harribel, 69.03 points; second place, Umi Ryuuzaki, 67.45 points; third place, Iria Winner, 65.84 points; fourth place, Rukia Kuchiki, 63.76 points…”

~~~

The following afternoon, it was Toushirou’s turn in the short programme. He had drawn tenth place, immediately after the arrogant skater he had faced during the collegiate championships.

Waiting below the stands with the other competitors, he occasionally glanced at the television screen that carried footage of the ongoing competition. Focusing more on the music in his ears, he barely noted the scores that flashed on the screen.

When the eighth skater had been called into the rink, Toushirou calmly turned off his iPod and headed for the locker he had been allocated. Locking up the music player, he stretched in the locker room, warming up before returning to the waiting room. Several moments later, the taller skater before him was called out.

Tense despite his cool façade, he nodded to Coach Ukitake as the white haired coach walked up to him. “How’s everything?” the coach asked, smiling gently.

“Fine.”

“Good luck!”

Nodding in response to his coach, Toushirou waited silently as minutes passed, running through his routine in his mind. Soon after, the announcement came and he entered the rink to applause. “Coached by Juushirou Ukitake, we have number ten, Toushirou Hitsugaya. His first year competing at the senior level, Hitsugaya won the collegiate championships last August. He will be skating to Harvest Festival, composed by Nai-Chung Kwan.”

Blocking out everything around him, he made several rounds on the ice – a brief warm up, before coming to a stop and assuming his starting position. As the music echoed around the rink, Toushirou turned his full focus on the music and skated.

Landing his first jump, a triple Axel, cleanly as the music rose to a crescendo briefly, the white haired skater cavorted on the ice as the familiar exotic beat sounded. A faint smile made its way across his lips as he landed his second jump, a triple Loop, without any problems before launching himself into a flying camel spin.

Following the melody as it began to rise to yet another climax, Toushirou took off backward on the ice, making a triple Lutz. As he paused before his second jump in the combination, he caught sight of wavy brown hair out of the corner of his eye and met cold brown eyes in that instant he took off.

 _‘Aizen! He came for the competition after all.’_ He caught sight of the slight grin on the coach’s face as he spun once, then twice. Distracted as he was, Toushirou felt like he was about to fall as he landed off balance. It took all his effort to maintain his balance, moving on quickly without touching the ice with his hand, somehow using his slight momentum to make up for the loss in balance.

 _‘Is he here because he found out?’_ Even as he tried to focus on the music, the thought inadvertently broke his concentration and he ended his routine with his combined spin just a touch out of beat with the music.

Accompanied by applause, he skated across the ice to the kiss and cry area, where Coach Ukitake was waiting. Surprisingly, the brown haired coach who had been looking out from that area earlier, was nowhere to be found.

Raising an eyebrow as he looked as his student, Ukitake asked, “Is there anything wrong?”

“I just saw Aizen,” came the cool reply, sounding just a touch nervous.

“Here?” The coach asked, watching as the skater nodded. “I haven’t seen him at all though.”

Toushirou remained silent for the rest of the time as he waited, fist clutched to his mouth, a mixture of nervousness and serious contemplation. _‘Is Aizen here? Does he know?’_ They echoed in his mind, casting doubt on whether he had actually seen the man.

The calm voice of the announcer took him out of his thoughts. “Technical score, 37.72, programme score, 37.38, total score for short programme, 75.10, current position, third.”

Ukitake smiled at him as he nodded coolly to the cameras, before heading back into the backstage area. _‘Third, but last year’s top three haven’t skated yet. Aizen…’_ Immediately heading back to the locker room, Toushirou pulled off his skates and changed out of his outfit. Packing up his belongings, he then made his way around the backstage area, hoping to catch sight of Aizen again.

Unfortunately, even though he caught sight of the arrogant looking skater who was Aizen’s student, there were no signs that the brown haired coach had made any appearance.

When it came to the final announcement on the placing for the short programme, it did not come as any surprise to him that he placed sixth in the field.

~~~

That night over dinner, Ichigo sensed that there was something wrong with Toushirou. Coming out of the bathroom after his bath, the orange haired goalkeeper saw the white haired skater seated on his bed, towel around his neck and staring off into blank space.

Seating down on his own bed, opposite the skater, Ichigo asked, meeting clouded turquoise eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

“I saw Aizen when I was skating. After the results were out, I went to look for him. I couldn’t find him. Coach didn’t see him too.” The skater paused before he asked, sounding just a bit worried, “Do you think he knows?”

“Tosh’, don’t worry.” Putting his uninjured right hand on the skater’s shoulders, Ichigo met Toushirou’s gaze squarely. “Even if he is here, there’s nothing he can do to you. I’ll be around and there’re a lot of other people at the competition. I can ask Coach Ukitake about getting a backstage pass if you’re worried.”

“There’s no need to. I’m just… never mind.”

“It doesn’t matter if Aizen is here or not. He might just be trying to play mind tricks on you. Stop thinking about it and go sleep.” With that, Ichigo rose to his feet and headed for his bag. Retrieving a thin volume, this time one entitled, ‘Introduction to Psychiatry and Mental Disorders’, the orange haired sophomore returned to his bed and read a few pages before deciding to call it a night.

The next morning, Ichigo only woke up after hitting the snooze button twice times. Expecting the skater to be waiting impatiently for him, he sat up and looked around the room groggily, only to realise that Toushirou was absent.

Suddenly alert, Ichigo got out of bed, looked more carefully around the room, and finally spotted a piece of paper on the table that had not been there the night before. “Kurosaki, I’m off for a swim. I’ll be back soon.”

Heaving a sigh of relief, Ichigo stretched slightly before he headed to the bathroom to wash up. By the time he was done, the skater had not returned and feeling lazy, he decided to change in the room instead of occupying the bathroom. Just as he had stripped down to his briefs, the door opened with a ‘click’, admitting a wet Toushirou, clad in the same fitting white trunks he had worn the previous time.

“You’re back.” Ichigo remarked, trying but failing to stop his eyes from wandering down to the skater’s lightly muscled chest, flat stomach and the white trunks.

“Hn… I decided not to bother you, since you can’t swim now.” Toushirou replied coolly, noticing that the goalkeeper was looking at him. In turn, he raked his eyes appreciatively across the more muscular body and the slight bulge in the black briefs.

Feeling a stirring in his groin, Ichigo suddenly turned away from the skater and bent down to pick up his jeans. “Hurry and shower. We’re going to be late otherwise.” Keeping his voice as neutral as he could, he concentrated on the various disorders he had read the night before, pulling on his jeans before struggling to put on his shirt. Shrugging on his jacket but not putting his injured left arm through the sleeve, he was ready by the time the skater had come out of his bath, dressed to go.

After a quick breakfast, they made their way to the Coliseum, just a short walk away. Parting with the skater at the backstage entrance, Ichigo headed for the stands to watch the practice session. Sitting with Yumi and Rangiku, they watched the practice, with the black haired art major going ‘Ooh’ and ‘Ah’ over a particular brown haired skater. It did not take long for Ichigo to learn that the youthful looking skater was Tsubasa Li, current world and Olympic champion.

Following Toushirou’s practice, they met Rukia for lunch and wished her good luck before returning back into the Coliseum for the senior ladies’ free skate competition. Ichigo and Toushirou had also passed Rukia an anonymous letter for her to place in Tia Harribel’s locker; the pair had decided against looking for the skater herself, given the possibility of Aizen’s presence.

Slightly more than two hours later, it was Rukia’s turn on the ice. “Presenting number nineteen, Rukia Kuchiki, coached by Juushirou Ukitake. Placing fourth in the short programme, she will be skating to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata for the free skate.”

Waltzing across the ice in a shimmering black outfit, the black haired skater dazzled the crowd with her spins and landed all her jumps cleanly. The audience clapped heartily when she was done; her performance simply summarised by Yumichika in three words, _“That was beautiful.”_

Two skaters later, Rukia’s score of 123.13 for the free skate still stood as the highest mark awarded. It was only the blonde, Tia Harribel’s passionate skate to Bizet’s Carmen that won her highest accolades.

“I think Rukia’s going to finish second,” Ichigo announced to the group, having been calculating the scores on his notepad. Barely a minute later, the calm tone of the announcer could be heard throughout the stands. “Here are the final results for this year’s senior ladies figure skating championships. In first place, Tia Harribel, with a combined total score of 196.36 and in second place, Rukia Kuchiki, with a combined total score of 186.89. Coming in third, Umi Ryuuzaki, with a combined total score of 185.67 and fourth, Iria Winner, with a combined total score of 174.09....”

They celebrated briefly and stayed for the prize presentation and photo taking, the black haired art major snapping several shots of Rukia standing on the podium. Taking into consideration that the senior men’s competition was the following morning, they had dinner as usual before retiring to their hotels early.

~~~

The next morning, Ichigo and Toushirou both rose early. Coming out from the bathroom after changing, Toushirou turned to the already-changed Ichigo and asked, “Breakfast?”

Expecting a reply in the affirmative, the skater was surprised when the goalkeeper replied, “Erm… just give me a moment.” Raising his eyebrows curiously as Ichigo turned away from him, hands seeming to struggle with something, Toushirou took a few steps over, wondering if he needed help.

Suddenly turning, Ichigo found himself centimetres away from the skater, holding the silver chain and pendant he had bought the day before. “Tosh’, er… I bought this yesterday. It’s for you. Anyway, I was hoping that it would be something good to concentrate on while you skate. Think of it as an anti-Aizen charm.”

“Thank you, Kurosaki.” Toushirou’s hand took the chain and crescent-shaped pendant that the goalkeeper held out. His colder fingers met Ichigo’s warmer hand for a brief moment, before he drew back instinctively, the chain firmly grasped in his fingers.

Noticing but ignoring the pink blush on the goalkeeper’s cheeks, he deftly unfastened the catch on the chain. He then brought the silver necklace round his neck before fastening the catch. Tucking it under his shirt and feeling the metal cold against his skin, Toushirou turned to Ichigo again, “Breakfast then, shall we?” Ichigo grinned in response, embarrassment gone, picked up his bag then headed for the door.

Following breakfast, the pair met their friends in front of the Coliseum as arranged the night before. After a chorus of ‘Good lucks’ from his companions, Toushirou made his way backstage, reporting first to the official in charge before heading to change.

Similar to the previous day, he sat in the waiting room waiting for his turn, earphones plugged in. The only difference this time was the cool touch of metal against his skin. Oblivious to the skaters, coaches and officials who walked in and out, it was only when Coach Ukitake tapped him on his shoulder that he realised it was almost his turn.

Not having the time to keep his iPod with his belongings, Toushirou passed it to his white haired coach before beginning on his stretching. Minutes later, he was called and he proceeded onto the ice as he was announced. “In sixth place following the short programme, we have Toushirou Hitsugaya, coached by Juushirou Ukitake. He will be skating to Return of Spring, composed by Guan-Ren Gu for his free skate.”

Making a full oval on the ice, Toushirou fingered the crescent pendant before coming to a stop in front of the judges and assuming his starting position. Starting softly, the music rose to a crescendo almost immediately and with perfect timing, the white haired skater landed his first triple Axel.

Concentrating on the music, he aced his double jump combination before following up with a step sequence and a camel spin. Seconds later, Toushirou leapt into the air, spinning four times, before landing cleanly, pulling off his quadruple toe loop without a hitch.

Gaining confidence, the white haired skater flowed with the music as it took on yet another different tempo and landed a series of consecutive jumps, starting with a triple Salchow coming off a spin combination. Even the triple jump combination, a triple Axel-triple toe loop-double loop, with the triple toe loop recently upgraded from a double toe loop, posed no problems.

The music sped towards its ending in presto time and accompanying it, Toushirou spun on the ice, increasing his speed suddenly in the final upright spin part of the spin combination, ending exactly as the music did. Accompanied by boisterous applause, he skated to the kiss and cry area and nodded as his coach smiled at him.

Minutes later, the announcement came. “Element score, 79.10, programme score, 81.45, total for free skate, 160.55 points, combined total, 235.65 points. Toushirou Hitsugaya currently leads the field.”

 _‘I hope that’s high enough for the podium.’_ Heading back to the waiting area, he was congratulated by several skaters, including Tsubasa, before he settled down in a corner to watch the rest of the competition with Coach Ukitake next to him.

The beige haired skater who placed second in the short programme, Elliot Nightray, eventually edged out his score in the free skate narrowly, before it was finally Tsubasa’s turn. Toushirou watched on the screen as the brown haired skater, skating to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, landed all his jumps perfectly, earning a score of 167.98.

When the final scores were released, Toushirou paid careful attention to the announcement. “Here are the final results for this year’s senior men’s figure skating championships. In first place, Tsubasa Li, current world and Olympic champion, with a combined total score of 251.31, silver goes to Elliot Nightray, with a combined total score of 240.08. Coming in third is Misaki Takahashi, with a combined total score of 236.24 and pewter goes to Toushirou Hitsugaya, with a combined total score of 235.65....”

It took a few moments for it to sink in and slightly dazed, Toushirou found himself being congratulated by other skaters in the room. In turn, he also made his way across the room, shaking hands with the other skaters.

Minutes later, he was called with the other medallists out onto the ice once again for the photo taking and prize presentation. Getting on the podium first, turquoise eyes searched the filled rink for bright orange. When he finally caught sight of Ichigo, standing with Rukia, Rangiku and Yumichika, he waved, a faint smile on his lips.

That night, they celebrated with a dinner, opening a bottle of champagne, with both their coaches as well as Byakuya joining them.

Later that night, on the way back to their room in the hotel, Ichigo, supporting a slightly drunk Toushirou, heard the skater mumble, “Thank you, Ichigo.” Back in their room, he gently placed the unconscious skater on his bed before heading for a quick shower.

Gazing at the white haired skater as he towelled dry his hair after his shower, the orange haired teenager could not resist leaning over and ruffling his hair after he was done. Then, after placing a chaste kiss on the forehead of the slumbering skater, Ichigo climbed into bed, softly whispering, “Sweet dreams, Tosh’.”


	9. Meetings

“I’ll see you after your class at your place. The flight’s at half past noon. Rukia’s driving us to the airport.”

The white haired skater glanced down briefly at the screen of his phone after sliding it out of his pocket. Turning his attention back to the lecturer and his notes, Toushirou thought nothing further of the matter.

He had already packed the night before and had just been waiting to put a time on their flight to the West Coast. He had left the exact details to Ichigo, guessing that the injured hockey player would appreciate having something to do in lieu of his missed practices and games.

After his class, he had stayed behind to inquire about a point the lecturer had brought up, before heading back to the house he shared with his coach, only to find a grumpy looking Ichigo, bag in hand, waiting at the door.

“What took you so long?”

Hearing the impatience in the sophomore’s voice, Toushirou replied in his usual cool tone as he took out his keys and opened the door. “Kurosaki, for one, I’ve already packed last night. Also, you know you didn’t have to come along, right? Now, do I even have to invite you in?”

“Thanks,” Ichigo replied, sounding more subdued, walking in while the skater held the door open. Toushirou watched from the corner of his eye, as the injured goalkeeper closed the door behind and shuffled into the house, while he transferred some reading materials from his backpack into the bag he was bringing.

Shuffling through his notes while he contemplated if he would read them over the weekend, the skater turned to Ichigo, now slouched on the sofa and asked, “How’s your arm?”

Things had returned back to how they had been previously after they returned from the skating championships. After settling into the spring semester, the orange haired goalkeeper turned up for his practices again and they met for lunch every week. The only thing different was the sophomore’s occasional listlessness, especially when they met his teammates for dinner – he knew how the goalkeeper felt away from the game and felt slightly guilty.

“Uh… It’s fine. I’m going back next week for a check up. Rukia’s supposed to be here now anyway,” came the reply, as Ichigo looked up at the clock. The doorbell chimed just then and the sophomore stood, headed for the door.

Having extracted the notes he wanted, Toushirou headed for his room, placing the rest of his notes and his backpack on his table before returning to the living room. Nodding to the black haired skater, he picked up his bag, following Ichigo and Rukia out of the door.

The ride to the airport was uneventful and without needing to check in any luggage, it took the pair no time to board the plane. Over the lunch, served once the plane began cruising, Toushirou recalled their few emails with Tia Harribel and began planning what they would do during their meeting.

The next time he looked at Ichigo, the orange haired goalkeeper was absorbed in yet another book, seemingly concentrated on a diagram with arrows all over, white headphones riding on his orange hair. As the music came to an end in his own earphones – Coach Soi Fon had corrected the routine slightly for his World Juniors attempt and he had been working to internalise the new routine along with the shortened music – another glance told him that the biology major was looking at some complicated pathway diagram.

On repeat mode, the familiar tune started yet again and Toushirou turned his attention back to the music and his routine. Deep in concentration, time passed and it was not long before he had to turn off his iPod as the plane prepared to land. Grabbing their bags after the plane landed, he followed Ichigo, making their way to the arrival hall. Waiting for him there was one person he had not expected to see though.

“Granny?”

“Toushirou, it’s good to see you again.” The short, white haired lady hugged the skater before turning to Ichigo. “You must be Ichigo then.” Embracing him briefly, she then asked, “Shall we make a move, boys? You must be hungry.”

Glancing at the taller sophomore, Toushirou could not help but notice the grin on his face. “Why are you grinning?”

“Well, you said I could make the arrangements and she did say she wanted to see you, so I thought it’ll be good to meet up.” Then, leaning slightly to whisper in his ear, the goalkeeper continued, “Anyway, you look cute when you pout.”

“Kurosaki, I do not pout.” With that, Toushirou widened his strides slightly, walking over to where his grandmother was, his orange haired partner following behind him.

~~~

The next afternoon, Granny drove them down to the mall they had arranged to meet Tia Harribel at. Even though Toushirou had initially objected to involving his grandmother in their plans, he could not deny that it sounded like a better alibi if they met a friend while they were shopping with their grandmother.

Some time later, they reached the mall. After going round the shops with Granny for about half an hour, they parted temporarily with the white haired lady, who had some grocery shopping to do and promised to meet her in half an hour.

Ichigo and Toushirou then headed for the mall’s Starbucks, bought coffees and found a table conveniently located in a corner. The blonde skater was due to meet them in fifteen minutes and even though they had discussed their plans and gone over several possibilities of how they expected the skater to react their plan, they could not help but still feel unprepared.

Ten minutes later, Ichigo spotted the blonde skater, holding a drink, looking briefly around before she headed for their table. Nodding to her as she took her seat and removed her sunglasses, he glanced over at Toushirou and waited to see what the skater had planned.

Catching what seemed to be a flicker of recognition in her eyes as she glanced at him, the white haired skater inclined his head briefly before placing the brown envelope he had been carrying on the table.

Seemingly as calm as Toushirou, the blonde skater picked up the envelope and opened it. Ichigo almost thought he caught a glimpse of her hand trembling slightly when she reached into the envelope. He knew what was inside – they had printed out a photo of each of the victims from that thumbdrive, excluding Momo, and put it in a photo album.

A few minutes later, he heard a soft ‘thump’ as the album landed at the bottom of the envelope, then watched as she replaced the envelope on the table in a slow, deliberate motion. “What do you want?”

“We want to know if you are willing to testify against Aizen.”

Taking a sip of her coffee, the blonde skater raised her eyebrows before replying, “I guess you should know this. I’m been trying to get free of Aizen for some time. I will have no qualms testifying against that bastard.”

“In that case, we’d like you to continue acting normally. We’ll be raising charges against Aizen very soon, and we’d prefer if you only stepped forward then. If there’s anyone else you know in those photos, you could try to sound them out – the fewer who know, the better though. I think you should be more familiar with Aizen’s way of doing things than me.”

Nodding silently, the blonde skater then asked, “Is there a specific timeframe before you get things going?”

“It should be settled before or around Worlds. I hope you won’t be too affected by it. Just in case of anything, here’s a contact.” Pulling out a pen and a piece of paper from his pocket, Toushirou scribbled a number on it.

Passing it over on the small table, Ichigo watched as the blonde skater took out her cell phone and entered the number before crumpling the piece of paper in a ball.

“Harribel-senpai, in any case, if you haven’t remembered, Matsumoto and I went to the same high school as you.”

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Ichigo watched as the blonde skater struggled to recall before a look of surprise appeared on her tanned features. “Hitsu-gaya, right? You were two grades below me.”

Nodding in response, also slightly surprised, the white haired skater then looked down at his phone. “It was good meeting you. I hope we get to meet under better circumstances the next time.”

Taking yet another sip of her coffee, the blonde stood as well, looking down at the slightly shorter Toushirou. “It was indeed. Thank you. I’m about to go as well.” Replacing her sunglasses, she nodded in the direction of the pair before dropping the ball of paper into the bin and leaving, still holding her cup of coffee

“That’s it then. Shall we go look for Granny now?” Ichigo asked, picking their cups of coffee and throwing them in the nearby bin.

“…Hn.”

~~~

The next morning, Ichigo woke early and dragged a grouchy Toushirou out of bed. Following a quick breakfast of cereal and milk, they pulled on their jackets and headed out. The weather was cool and refreshing, unlike the harsh winters back in Massachusetts.

“Kurosaki, I swear, if this is one of your stupid ideas, I’ll kill you.” Toushirou growled, upset at having to wake up that early when it was not necessary.

“Nope. It is a secret though.” Ichigo replied, expression a mixture of amusement and seriousness. After stopping by a florist on the way and paying for two white roses, the orange haired teenager continued walking; the white haired skater found the direction they were headed in rather familiar though.

Ten minutes later, Toushirou knew where Ichigo was headed. Less than five minutes later, they stepped into the town’s cemetery. Seeing the orange haired goalkeeper awkwardly retrieve a hand drawn map from a pocket, the skater instead turned onto one of the paths leading into the tranquil graveyard.

“Wait, Tosh’.”

“It’s this way.”

Silently, Ichigo followed behind, unable to help himself from noticing how resolute each stride the lone skater took seemed. Glancing down at the map, he noted that they were approaching the huge tree marked as a landmark on the map, which meant that her grave was near.

A few moments later, he watched as the skater came to a stop in front of a simple headstone. Stepping up beside the skater, he silently read the engraved words and bowed his head. Moments later, he passed a stalk of rose to the equally silent Toushirou, before bending down and placing his stalk gently in front of the white headstone.

_‘I wonder what he’s thinking about.’_

He had not visited the cemetery ever since the funeral. He had not cried when they interred her in the brown earth, but had instead promised to only visit when he had brought Aizen to justice. Despite that, he had let his feet guide the way, walking to the white headstone where her name was engraved.

_‘You know, Momo, everything is going to be over soon. We are going to bring that bastard to justice; we have proof this time. No one else will be hurt ever again.’_

Despite the conviction in his words, they felt hollow to him, somehow. For a moment, Toushirou allowed himself to imagine how Momo would have felt about it and an image of her smiling appeared in his mind’s eye. She seemed slightly sad though and he could imagine her asking, _“Shirou-chan, what about you then?”_

It was then that all the memories that he had shut away came flooding back, breaking through the dam in his mind.

Times he had spent together with her, at home teasing each other, helping Granny with chores, feasting on Granny’s handmade sweets. Times on the rink, where they had practiced the basics together, where he had watched her practice, where he had been too busy to notice her growing infatuation with their coach…

It had only been after her suicide, when he had gone through her belongings and came upon her diary that he actually knew how lonely she had felt at college, how Aizen had made use of her, and how wretched she had been at the end of it. At the end of it, he had felt her despair, how she had no other better choice, and that had been what spurred him to do what he did.

_‘Momo… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I didn’t realise earlier. I’m sorry I was too busy. I’m sorry you didn’t have a chance to talk…’_

Stepping forward, he placed a hand on the white stone, before bending down to place the stalk of white rose next to the one Ichigo had left there earlier. Standing again, with his hand still on the cool stone, he closed his eyes and made another promise.

_‘I’m sorry… for not taking care of myself. I promise though, when this is all over, I’ll still be skating for you and myself. You won’t need to worry about me.’_

The next moment, he felt a warm hand covering his and heard Ichigo’s voice.

“Hi Momo, I’m Ichigo, nice to meet you. Thanks for taking care of Tosh’ while he was in school. I hope he’ll let me stay around to protect him, just like how I hope he’ll do the same for me. Please also do look out for him up in heaven.”

Feeling his mouth curl upwards in response to the warm smile on the orange haired teenager’s face, Toushirou smiled for the first time since his adopted sister’s death. Hands together on the cool stone, they stayed there like that for some time.

~~~

On the flight back a few hours later, Toushirou recalled his grandmother’s words. They had chatted the morning Ichigo had slept in before they had gone to meet Tia Harribel. As he has expected, his grandmother still knew him the best, despite spending three years apart.

She knew why he had not come back, why he had not written to her, had said there was no need for him to apologise. She had also said something else, _“That boy who came with you, you should treasure him.”_

Absentmindedly fingering the cool crescent pendant that lay on his chest – he had not taken it off since – the white haired skater leaned back in his chair and not long later, drifted off to sleep.

Halfway through the page he was reading, Ichigo felt something heavy lying on his arm. Turning slightly and realising that it was Toushirou, he smiled and ruffled the skater’s white hair gently before returning to his reading. The skater only woke up just before they landed.

~~~

The following week, his father drove him to the hospital for his follow up. Dr Yamada, who was coincidentally in charge of his case, was surprised with how fast his fracture was healing. Ichigo had asked and was granted permission to return to light training.

“Remember Ichigo, only light training for you. Don’t knock your arm into anything.” The kind orthopaedic surgeon reminded as the goalkeeper got to his feet.

“Yep. I’m only going to try some skating and I’ll try my best not to fall. Thank you.” Nodding to the young doctor who had been his mentor, Ichigo walked towards the door of the consultation room.

“I’ll see you in a month then,” the friendly doctor called out, waving as his patient left.

Not seeing his father anywhere outside, the goalkeeper decided to make a stop by Dr Retsu’s office, hoping that she was available. He had not been able to thank her for the opportunity to intern at the hospital when he had been discharged.

Knocking on her office door, he was not surprised to hear the calm tone call out, “Enter.” Stepping into the familiar office, he greeted the doctor. “Good afternoon, Dr Retsu.”

“Kurosaki, I see that you are recovering well.”

“Yep, thank you for asking. Erm… I also want to thank you, Dr Retsu, for the chance to intern here previously. I didn’t get to thank you the last time.”

“You’re welcome. It was unfortunate that it had to end like that. You’d be welcome if you want to return over summer.”

“Thank you, Dr Retsu. Could I also ask about Nelliel? How is she doing now?” The orange haired goalkeeper asked, wondering if the green haired girl he had been escorting back home while they had been attacked was recovering well.

“Miss Odelschwanck is also in the midst of recovering from her injuries. She also seems to have recovered most of her memories after the blows to her head. She seems to recall your assailant and other related matters and we have decided to refer the case to the police for further investigation.”

“Thank you. Please do give her my regards when you see her next.” Thanking the senior doctor, Ichigo then headed back to the consultation areas in search of his missing father.

Later that night, he received a message from Toushirou. _“Urahara says they’re wrapping up the case and handing it over to the police soon. They apparently know some people in the police that could expedite the case.”_

Ichigo grinned after reading the concise message from the skater. He was a step closer to being able to return to the ice, Nel was doing fine and a potential witness, the case was almost done – things were indeed looking up.


	10. Endings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grimm's a homophobe in this fic, and he uses some slurs in here, so do take note if you're not comfortable with it.

“The Hague, Netherlands – Toushirou Hitsugaya of the United States leads at the World Junior Figure Skating Championship after a magnificent performance in the men’s short programme. Skating to ‘Harvest Festival’, he landed his triple Axel effortlessly, and three other triples, and achieved Level Fours for his spins, to lead the field with a personal best score of 75.62. In second place is the World Junior Grand Prix Champion, England’s Kyle Elmore with a score of 73.19…”

“The Hague, Netherlands – Toushirou Hitsugaya of the United States wins the World Juniors with England’s Kyle Elmore and Japan’s Tetsunosuke Ichimura coming in second and third respectively.

Hitsugaya recorded a career-best performance to ‘Return of Spring’, landing a quadruple toe loop and eight triples, including a triple Axel-triple toe loop-double loop combination. The eighteen year old scored 161.48 points on his free skate for a combined total of 237.10 points. Skating to ‘Sherlock Holmes’, Kyle Elmore under-rotated his second triple Axel…”

“Playing at home, the Shinou Shinigami qualified for this year’s Frozen Four in style. Up against the CCHA conference champions in the quarterfinals, the Hockey East conference champions handed the Rukongai Raiders an 8-1 thrashing. Previously injured first team goalkeeper, number 15 Ichigo Kurosaki, came on in the third period and kept a clean sheet for the Shinigami as they try to win their fourth consecutive championship. Leading scorer Renji Abarai scored four of the Shinigami’s goals…”

“Tokyo, Japan – Tia Harribel of the United States wins her first World Figure Skating Championship following an impressive overall performance over two days of competition. Italy’s Lucrezia Noin and Rukia Kuchiki of the United States came in second and third, with home favourite, Miho Azuki narrowly missing out on the podium.

Harribel recorded seven triples skating to Bizet’s Carmen and achieved Level Fours for all her other elements on route to a personal best of 130.31 for her free skate to win by a four point margin with a combined score of 200.53 after placing second in her short programme. Despite placing first for the short programme, Noin landed awkwardly on her second triple Lutz, but still landed six other triples to obtain a score of 127.11, skating to Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu.

Competing in her first Worlds, United States’ Kuchiki landed seven triples, including a triple Salchow-triple toe loop-double toe loop combination, to earn a personal best score of 125.13 points. With a combined score of 192.06, also a personal best, she narrowly pipped Japan’s Azuki by 0.24 points. Azuki, who placed third after the short programme…”

~~~

“Kurosaki, turn on the news on your TV now.”

“Toushirou? Wait! What? ...”

Rushing down the stairs, Ichigo headed for the television in his living room, not even noticing that the skater had already put down the phone on his end. Picking up the remote and pressing the red button, he focused as the speakers crackled to life, before immediately switching the channel to the news.

“…today, following a tip off. Three laptops and other documents are currently being held for further investigations regarding the alleged charges. Members of the Las Noches Board of Directors and All Stars Skating Club management committee have reacted in shock after hearing of the allegations…”

As Ichigo spotted the capitalised headline on the screen – _“Businessman and famous figure skating coach Sousuke Aizen detained on charges of rape”_ , the orange haired teenager grinned. It seemed the arm of the law had finally caught up with the bastard.

Following Nelliel’s recovery, he had been asked to return to the police station for further investigations into their assailant’s identity. Nnoitra Gilga, a member of the Las Noches Arrancar, had been fingered as the main suspect amidst ongoing investigations. Though not reported, it seemed that there was a trail from that case that eventually led back to Aizen, as he, Toushirou and Urahara had suspected.

About two and a half months after the assault, Ichigo’s arm had been certified to be good to go by Dr Yamada. The fracture looked fully healed during an X-ray. However, the surgeon had initially urged the goalkeeper to have an extended period of rest and not to participate any further training or subsequent matches as a cautionary measure.

Despite that, he had finally given in under persuasion and given the hockey player the ‘all-clear’ he needed if he used an arm guard for the rest of the season, and returned for regular check-ups to ensure there was no further injury.

Ichigo had agreed to the conditions at once and returned to intensive training; he did pay special attention to his left arm though, altering his goalkeeping style slightly to protect the once fractured forearm from bearing direct hits. His teammates celebrated his official return with a night of drinks; with matches on consecutive days, it had been taxing with only one goalkeeper.

They had managed to keep their conference best record narrowly though. The Boston Eagles only drew and lost two more matches each at the end of the regular season compared to them. It had been a tough fight during the Conference Championships too – they had narrowly edged the Eagles 5-4 with Ichigo watching from the sidelines.

Coach Ise had decided to give him some time on the ice during the regional finals and he had performed well. With that and an ‘all-clear’ from Dr Yamada during the post-match check-up, he had been given approval to fly off with the rest of the team to Minnesota, host of the year’s Frozen Four, in five days. Their opponents – the Bount Crusaders, winners of their conference; the other semi final featured the Arrancar against the Eagles.

~~~

Benched for the first period, while a mixture of the first and alternate teams played, Ichigo had spotted Rukia and Rangiku in the crowd in the Xcel Energy Centre. They were leading 2-0 and were slightly familiar with the Crusaders’ tactics, having already played them previously.

As the whistle blew to indicate the end of the first period, the orange haired goalkeeper patted Renji and Chad on the back after they came back in to rest. Moments later, Coach Ise began informing the team of their strategy for the next period.

“Kurosaki, Hisagi, Kira, Madarame, you’re up next, with Abarai and Sado. I expect more goals this period. Signal out if you’re tired. I don’t want you to be exhausted for our final match. For this period, our strategy will be…”

Ichigo grinned at Renji and was met with a similar grin from the redhead. It was finally time for him to play during the Frozen Four and he was aiming for a shut-out. Turning his attention back to their coach, he listened intently to the rest of her instructions before huddling with the rest of his team to discuss the signals and strategies.

It was not long before the whistle blew yet again and they headed out onto the ice, donning their helmets and picking up their sticks. Grabbing possession of the puck immediately once the whistle sounded, Renji charged forward, supported by Ikkaku.

As the forwards headed towards the goal, they were blocked by the Crusaders’ defence. A back pass to an unmarked Shuuhei left the defence surprised and they achieved their forecheck easily before an errant pass was intercepted.

Having moved up into the midfield region, Kira intercepted a long pass by the Crusaders, passing it quickly back to Shuuhei, placing more stress on the Crusaders. After some passing and several unsuccessful checks by the defenders, Ikkaku spotted an opening and lifting his stick, he skated forward slightly before hitting the puck towards the goalposts.

The whistle sounded, indicating their third goal. Play continued soon after and Ichigo was not troubled for some time. While the Crusaders had possession, Ikkaku and Shuuhei had managed to trap them in the centre, backed by Kira and Chad.

A lucky interception by Shuuhei then led to a counterattack from the Shinigami. Deftly manipulating his stick, Ikkaku broke through the defence before his shot on goal was intercepted by a defender. By then, Renji and Shuuhei had marked the surrounding players, bringing the game back into the Crusaders’ part of the rink.

Several passes later, one of the Crusaders made a long pass down the ice. Despite attempts by Kira and Chad, the Crusaders sensed their opportunity and finally seeing an opening, their captain, Kariya, slotted the puck neatly between Chad and Kira, aimed at the goal.

Ichigo had spotted the fast moving puck and in a swift motion, pounced on it, centimetres away from goal posts. Grinning at the successful save, the goalkeeper put it into play immediately, spotting the hand signal from Shuuhei. A swift pass to Chad, then one straight down the ice to the waiting black haired forward, gave the Crusaders little time to respond.

With a clear shot on goal, Shuuhei slotted the puck neatly into the right corner of the net. The whistle followed moments later. Two minutes later, Coach Ise swapped Renji out for Ashido, seeming to sense a slowdown in his play. Yet another minute later, she swapped Chad for Iemura.

With two fresh players in the mix, the Shinigami scored once more in the second period, leaving them with a comfortable 5-0 lead going into the third and final period.

“I’ve discussed with Coach Kyouraku and we’ve agreed to let every player out on the ice given our lead. It is the Frozen Four after all, so I expect all of you to do your best.” Adjusting her glasses slightly, Coach Ise continued, “Kurosaki, Hisagi, Kira, you’ll stay. Enjouji, Kudou, Seko, you’re up next. Hisagi, you’ll stay low this period…”

Despite the popular decision, Ichigo soon realised midway during the final period that their coach had carefully considered her substitutions. There was at least one senior player in both the defence and offence on the ice at any one time.

Even though the freshmen seemed slightly overwhelmed at their first game of the Frozen Four, they settled in rather quickly. Ichigo made another five saves over the next fifteen minutes before being substituted.

On the sidelines, he watched, impressed, as one of the freshman, Rikichi, who idolised Renji, scored in the dying minutes, skating neatly around the goal before tapping it into the far corner of the net. Eventually, the Shinigami romped to an emphatic 7-0 victory over the Crusaders.

Later in the day, the Arrancar defeated the Boston Eagles 4-2, setting up an _explosive_ encounter for the finals, given their intense rivalry with the Shinigami.

~~~

“Ren, you know, Byakuya better not hear of this, or you’ll be in trouble.”

“Relax Ichi, he’s away in Japan again. Besides, we’re not doing anything improper,” the redhead replied, smirk on his face. “I did invite Hisagi-sempai too.”

“If Byakuya hears that you had a threesome in the Jacuzzi…”

“Ichigo, you asshole!”

“Nah, I’ll never tell.” Ichigo smirked, shifting slightly. “This is just the right remedy after practice.”

“You’re getting pampered, Ichi,” Renji replied with a laugh, before calling out, “Senpai, over here.”

Wearing a pair of plain black trunks, Shuuhei slid into the warm water, nodding to the two sophomores. “For tomorrow’s game, are there any strategies the both of you have in mind?”

After light practice followed by strategy discussion in the morning, they had been given the rest of the day off, with strict instructions to get enough rest. Even though it was their day of rest, the trio were anticipating a close match the next day and had taken some time out to plan.

About an hour later, they had come up with a reasonable game plan and headed back to their rooms. Over dinner later, they had briefly discussed it with the rest of the first team before turning the conversation to more casual topics, with Rukia and Rangiku at the table.

That night, all of them slept early; they had a game to win.

~~~

He was on the ice from the very first moment. Coach Ise had decided to play their first team against their formidable opponents and five minutes into the first period, Ichigo knew the audience was impressed by the match already, judging from the fervent cheers and applause.

Playing without their number five, Nnoitra Gilga, the Arrancar had sent out their first team as well. Goalkeeper, number ten Llargo, defensemen, number one Starrk and number eight Granz, forwards, number four Cifer, number six Jaegerjaquez and Gilga’s replacement, number twenty Plateado.

Between the two first teams of the two top ranked teams, it was a tough matchup. While the Shinigami were known for their tight passes, the Arrancar were known for their speed. Within the first five minutes, the orange haired goalkeeper had faced three shots on goal, even in the absence of Nnoitra Gilga.

Likewise, their team had upped the ante; their tight passing had given them two chances at direct shots on goal, only to be stopped by the Arrancar’s huge goalkeeper. Despite their efforts, the first period ended in a stalemate, with neither side scoring.

Coach Ise’s sharp tone was in play during the first recess. “Kurosaki, I’m keeping you for the next period. Signal if you need a break. Kotsubaki, Kanou, Kenzaki, you’re on. Enjouji, Enkougawa, Iemura, you’re on standby. Abarai, shut your mouth. I want your group fresh for the last period. We will be trying…”

When Coach Ise was done, surprisingly, Coach Kyouraku had instructions for them as well. “Offence, beware of Starrk. Granz and the substitutes are easier to overcome. Defence, keep your eyes open. Jaegerjaquez is easier to check but more brutal. Good luck.”

Gulping down some water before the whistle went off, Ichigo looked at the stands, trying to spot Rangiku’s distinct strawberry blonde hair. _‘Nope, nope. Hmm… Okay, that is her, with Rukia next to her. Toushirou…?’_ Spotting the skater’s distinctive white hair next to Rukia’s black, the goalkeeper stared for a moment to confirm that it was indeed the skater.

_‘He came!’_ Grinning as he replaced his helmet, Ichigo strode confidently onto the ice before skating to the goalposts as the whistle went off. There was no way he would be letting a goal in, not with Toushirou around.

The next whistle went off and while Sentarou had possession at first, it was quickly intercepted by the Arrancar number four, before Ashido made yet another interception, sending the puck back towards the Arrancar’s goal. Moments later, in their first forecheck of the period, Ryuusei had his first attempt on the goal blocked by the Arrancar goalkeeper.

_‘Thump!’_ Playing in their familiar tic-tac-toe manner, the three forwards edged their way towards the opponent’s goal. Kira and Chad handled each counterattack, before they were in turn substituted for Enkougawa and Iemura. The stalemate continued until someway midway through the period.

This time, it was the Arrancar who had a successful forecheck on the Shinigami. White uniforms a stark contrast to the Shinigami’s black ones, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow and Yylfordt were in the Shinigami’s defensive third of the rink, eagerly looking for an opportunity to score.

The moment the Arrancar number four saw an opening in the defender checking him, he swiftly turned and shot. Ichigo, having spotted the opening as well, reacted in time, deflecting the puck with his stick, only to have it intercepted by the blue haired forward.

“Jaegerjaquez,” he growled, as the Arrancar forward smirked at him, making a quick turn around the goal before aiming and shooting. Ichigo sat down on the ice immediately, trying to block off the goal, only to see a moment later that it had been a feint – he had passed the puck to his teammate.

Seeing the green eyed forward taking a shot from a different angle, Ichigo moved. It was a moment too late; the puck slid past his gloves into the net. Moments later, the whistle blew.

“Faggot!” Grimmjow called out, just loud enough for the goalkeeper to hear as he skated past him, smirking.

_‘Fuck!’_ The thought echoed in his mind as he skated towards the bench, noticing Coach Ise’s call for a substitution before the puck was put into place again. Tugging off his helmet, scowl on his face, Ichigo took a gulp of water before bringing his fist down on the bench. “Jaegerjaquez, that fucker!”

“Ichi, calm down. It’s only one goal.” Renji sat down next to him, patting him on his shoulder.

“That blue haired bigot. I swear, if I get my hands on him…” Turning his attention back to the game, he watched as the teams battled it out on the ice. A minute later, Coach Ise swapped Sentarou for Enjouji, their former Captain and things seemed to slightly turn in their favour.

Between the three forwards, they managed to forecheck the Arrancar, fielding now mainly what seemed to be their alternate team, several times. A careless mistake by the Arrancar number 19 defender left an opening that their former captain exploited. Lifting his stick slightly, he hit the puck directly past the goalkeeper into the back of the net.

On the bench, cheers broke out when the whistle blew. They had managed to draw with the Arrancar. The score remained at 1-1 at the end of the second period.

“Abarai, Hisagi, Madarame, Kira, Sado, you’re back in. Kotsubaki, Kurosaki, Momohara, you’re on standby. This is the final period. We will be focusing on our counterattacks…” Coach Ise’s instructions were clear – against the rapid play of the Arrancar, they needed to stun their opponents with a counterattack to have a better chance of scoring.

From the bench, the orange haired goalkeeper watched as the game resumed its fast-paced play. Even with the increasing infringements that resulted in more face-offs on the ice, the Arrancar, with most of their first team back on the ice, were still matching the Shinigami, strength for strength.

Several minutes later, while the Arrancar were attacking the Shinigami’s goal, Ichigo jumped to his feet to protest after Jaegerjaquez and Liones seemed to collide purposefully against his substitute, their number seven goalkeeper, Iba. The referee did not think the offence was serious enough for a penalty however, and a face-off ensued, with Shuuhei grabbing possession and speeding off on a swift counterattack.

“Kurosaki, you’re up.”

“Huh?” Ichigo replied, surprised that their Coach wanted a substitution.

“I have confidence in you.” Coach Ise replied, having noticed Iba’s signal to swap out.

Moments later, Ichigo found himself in front of the goalposts again. _‘I’m going to win this.’_ With that thought in his mind, he focused on the game, paying close attention to the movement of the puck as it darted across the ice.

The next shot Ichigo intercepted, off the green eyed Arrancar forward’s attempt at scoring, he shot it straight down the ice to Shuuhei. The black haired forward then passed it to Ikkaku, who then passed it down the ice to Renji, who came close to scoring, only for the Arrancar goalkeeper to shot his shot centimetres away from the goal.

As Renji skated back to defend against the incoming attack, Ichigo caught his eye and signalled, _‘Stay high. Long pass.’_ The redhead nodded slightly before skating off to mark the opposing number six. Despite the Shinigami’s attempts at defence, the Arrancar still eventually managed to pressure their defence into an opening that their number thirteen took.

Having noticed the opening, Ichigo intercepted the puck easily with his stick. With Kira and Chad blocking their opponents, he sent the puck speeding over the ice, past two lines to Shuuhei. Making a one-timer, the black haired forward shot the puck at the unguarded Renji, who sped into the Arrancar’s third.

Making a feint and bypassing a defender, Renji had a clear shot on goal. With Ikkaku blocking the other defender, the redhead shifted slightly, making yet another feint and sending the Arrancar’s goalkeeper in the wrong direction, before sending the puck flying into the goal.

Cheers broke out around the arena before the Arrancar coach, Gin Ichimaru, called for a timeout with five minutes on the clock. As the Shinigami huddled around their coaches, they listened as Coach Ise gave only a single instruction: to defend. It was common sense to them – they had a lead, defend it and the game was theirs to lose.

When the whistle blew, indicating the end of the timeout, Ichigo was prepared for an assault on his goal. It came as he expected, one wave followed by another as the Arrancar seemingly raised their game.

His defence was doing their best as well, managing to match the Arrancar forwards, with even Renji and Ikkaku pulling back to defend. With their forwards aiding in defence, they managed to pull off the neutral zone trap with some effort, despite the slightly faster Arrancar players, managing to keep the puck in the middle third more often than it made its way to their third of the rink.

By the time the clock indicated there were only two minutes left, the movements of both teams on the ice had slowed down slightly. Watching carefully, Ichigo noted as Jaegerjaquez sidestepped Kira, breaking through the trap and into their third yet again. Passing to Plateado, the blue haired forward skated past Shuuhei before taking control of the puck again.

Somewhere in his mind, Ichigo heard the forward call out teasingly, “Fag.” In spite of it, he made no response but instead focused on the puck. _‘He’s feinting again. Here it comes.’_

With a loud ‘crack’, his stick hit the incoming puck firmly, sending it slightly into the air, missing the other sticks that were blocking it, before landing before the blonde defender. Nodding, Kira took control of it, before passing it down to Ikkaku, who sped past a defender and into the Arrancar’s third.

Seconds later, Renji joined him. Ikkaku shot once he had a clear view of the goal, only to have the goalkeeper block it. The redhead however managed to get the rebound, slotting it neatly into the net between the feet of the Arrancar goalkeeper with seconds remaining on the clock. Moments later, the whistle blew, declaring the goal valid.

The pair of forwards hit high-fives before pulling back to the centre, where Shuuhei prepared for what probably was the final face-off of the game. Even as the Arrancar gained possession of the puck, the Shinigami pulled back, reforming their neutral zone trap and hoping to retain their two goal lead with less than a minute remaining.

That was not to be though. Cifer, the Arrancar number four broke through easily in a burst of speed, passing it to his blue haired teammate, before receiving it again, avoiding his marker easily. With a clear shot on the goal, he lifted his stick and slammed it against the puck.

Having already noticed the incoming attack, Ichigo was ready. Once he heard the ‘ _thump_ ’ of stick hitting puck, he bent down. Faced with the puck speeding towards him, he sat down on the ice, padded gloves slamming down before him in an effort to catch it. Seconds later, the shrill whistle sounded twice, indicating the end of the game.

Not actually sure if he had saved the shot, the orange haired goalkeeper lifted his hands slowly, but did not spot the puck below his gloves. He then turned his head to look into the net but did not see it. _‘Nope… Where the hell is it?’_

It was only when he looked down that he spotted it wedged between his knees and the ice, centimetres away from the goal. By then, his team was cheering and he accepted Renji’s outstretched arm and stood on the ice before hugging his teammate tightly.

“We did it, Ren! We did it!” Grinning madly, Ichigo found himself enveloped in a group hug as his teammates surrounded them. Ecstatic, they made their way back to their bench, shaking hands with their opponents and the referees along the way, before finally breaking out into an impromptu cheer. “We are the champions, we are the champions…”

Turning his head for a look at where his friends had been sitting, Ichigo raised his hand to flash a victory sign after spotting them, Rangiku waving happily at the crowd on the ice.

Ichigo knew he had finals in a month, and his relationship with Toushirou to work out. At that moment though, the skater he hoped would become his boyfriend had watched him win the most important championship of his life yet, and in general, things were looking good for the both of them; he was satisfied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested, here are the team rosters for the Shinigami and the Arrancar:
> 
> Shinou Shinigami
> 
> 02 SADO Yasutora (Chad) FW SO F  
> 03 KIRA Izuru DF JN F  
> 04 IEMURA Yasochika DF SO A  
> 05 KANOU Ashido FW SO A  
> 06 ABARAI Renji FW SO F Captain  
> 07 IBA Tetsuzaemon GK JN A  
> 08 ENJOUJI Tatsufusa FW SN A Former Captain  
> 09 HISAGI Shuuhei FW JN F  
> 10 SAIDOU Eikichirou FW SO  
> 11 MADARAME Ikkaku FW JN F  
> 12 IDE Harutoki DF FM  
> 13 KOTSUBAKI Sentarou FW JN A  
> 14 OGIDOU Harunobu DF FM  
> 15 KUROSAKI Ichigo GK SO F Vice Captain  
> 16 RIKICHI FW FM  
> 18 MOMOHARA Tetsuo FW FM  
> 21 KENZAKI Ryuusei FW JN A  
> 22 ENKOUGAWA Rusaburou DF JN A  
> 23 SEKO Shinta DF FM  
> 25 KUDOU Fujimaru FW FM
> 
> Las Noches Arrancar
> 
> 01 STARRK Coyote DF JN F Captain  
> 04 CIFER Ulquiorra FW SO F Vice Captain  
> 05 GILGA Nnoitra FW JN F  
> 06 JAEGERJAQUEZ Grimmjow FW SO F  
> 08 GRANZ Szayel Aporro DF SO F  
> 10 LLARGO Yammy GK JN F  
> 11 KUUFANG Shawlong GK SO A  
> 13 LIONES Edrad FW SO A  
> 14 GRINDINA Nakeem DF SO A  
> 15 GRANZ Yylfordt FW SO A  
> 16 RINKER Di Roy FW FM  
> 19 CUUHLHOURNE Charlotte DF SO A  
> 20 PLATEADO Arturo FW SN A  
> 21 VEGA Ggio FW FM  
> 22 POWW Choe Neng DF SO  
> 23 CARIAS Findor DF FM  
> 25 LINDOCRUZ Tesla FW FM  
> 27 PARDUOC Nirgge DF SO  
> 29 REDDER Avirama FW SO A
> 
> For the columns, the first column is their position: FW - forward, DF - defence, GK - goalkeeper. The second column is their year of study: SN - senior, JN - junior, SO - sophomore, FM - freshman. The last column, which some don't have, is the first and alternate team distribution: F - first team, A - alternate team. I don't actually play ice hockey, but from what I could understand, it should be common to have a first and alternate teams during practice. The other team members can be substituted for the first and alternate team members when required.


	11. Ice Cream - Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic Art - [Skating](http://i56.tinypic.com/zmfpf6.jpg) & Together (NSFW - Has been taken down) by crunchy_salad (on LJ)

“I’ll catch you at home for dinner.”

Placing his cell phone, Toushirou sat down and tugged off his skates. It was July and he had been practicing his routine for the new season under Coach Soi Fon’s watchful and strict eye. Even though it was going to be his senior year, he had decided to compete in the events scheduled for him for the skating association.

A trace of a smile crossed his face as he recalled seeing the orange haired hockey goalkeeper almost a year ago in the very same rink. While he had not been able to say that he had liked Ichigo immediately, he knew that he had been won over by his sincerity and perseverance.

Having changed into his sneakers, Toushirou picked up his skates and nodded a goodbye to his coach before returning to the house he shared with Coach Ukitake. The white haired coach had left for Japan a day ago and once Ichigo had learnt of it, he had decided to stay over at his place.

“Hey Tosh’. How was practice today?” Greeting the skater as he entered, Ichigo listened to the reply he expected, “…Hn. The usual,” before he continued. “Dinner will be ready in five. I’ve made tonkatsu curry.”

Bustling around the kitchen, the orange haired junior-to-be fished out the breaded pork cutlets from the oil before slicing them and putting them on the table. Returning to the kitchen to scoop two bowls of rice, he carried them to the table and placed one in front of the skater, who was already sitting there.

Dinner passed in comfortable silence and the pair split the washing and drying before Ichigo opened the fridge, taking out two bowls of ice cream. Placing it in front of the skater, who was sitting in front of the TV and watching the news, the goalkeeper smiled.

“Your favourite – kokutou ice cream. In celebration of six months.”

“Six months of what?” The skater asked, tucking into the ice cream he loved despite the question.

“Well, six months ago, you told me you were bi in the hospital. I’ve assumed that that’s your way of telling me you agreed to go out with me.” Ichigo smirked and watched as a look of surprise crossed the skater’s faced followed by a slight blush.

“Nope, you’ve never actually asked me, if you remember. Two can play at this game, Kurosaki.” Toushirou replied, attempting to look serious while he devoured the ice cream.

“Okay then. Tosh’, will you be my boyfriend?” Ichigo scooted over on the sofa, having finished his bowl of ice cream and placing it on the table.

“…No.” The skater replied coolly, also placing the empty bowl on the table. He still held the spoon though and was in the midst of licking it when he caught the goalkeeper staring at him.

“How do you want me to ask then?” Ichigo asked, staring at the skater’s tongue. _‘If he doesn’t stop licking that spoon soon, I’m going to lose control.’_

“Kurosaki, you could try being more sincere.” The skater replied, only to have Ichigo take away the spoon in his hand, dropping it in a bowl with a clatter, before finding the goalkeeper’s hand on his.

Placing his face centimetres away from the skater’s, the orange haired teenager asked, “Hitsugaya-senpai, may I then ask for permission to go out with you and to be my boyfriend?”

Blushing with the goalkeeper’s face so close to his, Toushirou found himself momentarily at a loss for words.

“That means yes then.” With that, Ichigo leaned forward and pressed his lips to the skater’s, even as his tongue prodded at the other’s closed lips. Seconds later, they opened slightly reluctantly; his tongue darted within the warm cavity, tasting the sweet brown sugar the skater had been eating earlier.

When they broke apart, Toushirou was breathing heavily and trying his hardest not to blush. “Kurosaki, I… mmph.” As the goalkeeper leaned in for another kiss, the skater resisted slightly before relaxing and leaning into the kiss as well.

As they broke apart yet again, he found the goalkeeper grinning before feeling himself being picked up like a bride and carried to his bedroom. “Kurosaki, let me down now!”

Needless to say, Ichigo was well aware of the skater’s threats to know that this was just a mild protest and replied instead, “Well, boyfriend mine, now that it’s official, I think we should celebrate.”

Placing the skater down on his bed, he was not surprised when the blushing skater wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. With his hands doing the work, Ichigo tugged off the skater’s T-shirt then his own as they embraced on the bed.

With the lithe chest below him, the goalkeeper licked at the hollow below the skater’s collarbone before moving down to a dusty pink nipple and swirling his tongue around it. “Uhh…” The skater moaned softly at the administrations before Ichigo turned his attention to its counterpart.

Fingers worked their way over the button and zip of Toushirou’s jeans and slipped them off, leaving the skater in a pair of white briefs. Blushing pink over his alabaster skin, Toushirou leaned in for another kiss as he embraced the goalkeeper.

Feeling Toushirou try to turn him over, Ichigo gave way and found himself lying on the bed with the skater’s cool torso leaning on his. Manoeuvring into a sitting position, they embraced again and he leaned into the kiss, fingers running through the skater’s smooth white hair. Nibbling his way down the skater’s chest, his fingers gazed the skater’s groin and the skater blushed even more furiously. “Ichigo, I…”

Voice gentle, he replied, “Tosh’, don’t worry. Just tell me if you want me to stop.” Watching as the skater nodded silently in response, he leaned forward, lowering the skater onto the bed, before removing his last piece of clothing.

Toushirou shuddered as he came into contact with Ichigo’s tongue. He knew what it meant in theory but had not realised that he was so sensitive. Waves of pleasure jolted his body as he felt each and every licking and sucking motion. Running his hands through bright orange hair, it was not long before he lost all control.

 _“I-chi-go!”_ Climaxing as he never had before, the skater looked down at his boyfriend, surprised that he had swallowed everything and then blushed yet again.

Standing then bending over, Ichigo whispered in Toushirou’s ear, “You really are cute when you blush.”

“Kurosaki, I’m not cute.” He scowled, taking in the goalkeeper’s athletic body at the same time as he shed his jeans and underwear.

“Whatever then. It’s good to know that you’re cute in front of me only.” Ichigo smiled, as he picked up the tube of lube he had placed on the side table earlier. Unscrewing the cap, he coated his fingers liberally before turning to the skater. “Now, I want you to turn over and relax.”

Returning to the bed, slightly nervous as this was his first time – he had only bottomed with Renji, and traced circles around the opening before sliding a cool finger in. Hearing a gasp from the skater, he pushed the finger further in more gently, turning it slightly before coming into contact with something.

The moan from the skater told him he had got the correct organ. “Ichi-go, what the hell… is that?” Toushirou moaned, feeling pleasure surging through him as Ichigo pressed on something.

“That’s your prostate.” The goalkeeper leaned in for a kiss as he inserted his second finger. Making a scissoring motion, he stretched the channel and nudged the skater’s prostate gently, earning more moans and grunts as Toushirou writhed on his fingers.

Satisfied, he then inserted a third finger, before moving his fingers in and out slowly, making sure to hit the prostate each time. Unbelievably turned on by the skater’s soft moans, Ichigo then coated himself before thrusting into the tight entrance, leaning in to kiss Toushirou at the same time.

Embracing the skater, he buried himself to the hilt, before withdrawing slowly, getting the skater used to the feeling. Thrusting slowly, he found his senses slowly being overwhelmed by the pleasure coursing through him. _‘Fuck!’_

He knew he was close and from the soft moans, he knew Toushirou was close too. Reaching out one hand, he stroked the skater’s arousal in time with his thrusts, both gradually picking up pace. With a shudder, he felt his hand coated with warm stickiness and as the skater tightened around him, he came as well. _“Tou-shi-rou!”_

Flushed, he slid out of the slick entrance, turned the white haired skater before wrapping his arms around him and nuzzling at him. Grinning at the smile on Toushirou’s face, Ichigo whispered, “I love you, Tosh’.”

“I love you too.” Toushirou leaned against the warmth of Ichigo’s body and promptly fell asleep. He was happy and somewhere out there, he knew his sister would be happy for him as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading. ^^
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't ice skate nor play ice hockey, so all the technical information relating to both sports I used for the fic came from wikipedia, the ISU website and the NHL rulebook for ice hockey. For the medical/biological related information, some I've studied before and others I consulted med school friends (or used google).
> 
> Anyway, there are several people I'd like to thank:  
> argentum_luna (on LJ) - my all-too-busy supposed beta for reminding me to stop writing convoluted stuff and keeping my writing short over MSN whenever I gave her a word count update... it still ended up crazily long though.. XD  
> crunchy_salad (on LJ) - my fic artist for the two pictures.. thank you so much.. i wasn't even expecting anyone to draw stuff for the fic  
> gw_shenlong & skylark92 - two authors from the GW fanverse that I follow. Shenlong's Equine Intervention Arc (http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/ShenLong/gw_Shenlong.htm) and Skylark's Blood, Sweat and Tears (http://mizunoamy.bravepages.com/skylark/skylarkfics.html), both sports based fics set in the GW-verse, were my inspiration for attempting to write a sports based fic using Bleach-verse characters, since I don't actually remember coming across something like that in the Bleach-verse just yet. I do hope I didn't screw up the fic though...  
> rii_no_ame (on LJ)- i'd also like to thank rii for her support since I was balancing fic writing and finals and something happened, and while it isn't resolved yet, it was good to have someone hear me out
> 
> I'd also like to apologies for any inadequecies in the fic. Due to various reasons (in particular, stupid college midterms spread out over many weeks) I only actually started writing towards the end of November, although I had already done up the plot and character outlines in September, which also meant I had to finish it in between finals this month. (Thank God for a long break between papers) It might read a little awkwardly between chapters, since I took breaks between them and my story plots tend to diverge from their original vague plans anyway.... >.> Once again, thanks for reading my first multi-chaptered fic and I hope there will be more to come!


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